Because of the In Amber Clad
by the new girl of lycanthropy
Summary: Rookie's point of view of the the events after Mombasa, the events before the war, the events after it, and how he transitions with the rest of the squad into normal life. Changed from short to long story. ODST characters. Reviews appreciated!
1. The End Begins Here

Because of The In Amber Clad

By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

It was in October that our squad had gone into the Battle of Mombasa.

I was- and probably will be called this forever- The Rookie of the group. Still am. Things have been made so that most likely, I always will be.

I was with Captain Dare and Gunny Sergeant Buck, my team leaders, when they came together again. It was a sort of funny, albeit awkward moment for me and that big, pink alien. Even he looked at me like, _'They have to do this now?'_. But I just shrugged it off; I'd do the same with my girl.

That's why I'm such a quiet person, I suppose. I don't really have much to say, and I appreciate really looking deeper into actions than words. Their actions, needless to say- especially for me- told me everything that they felt. It was funny because of the quick flow of the captain's actions. She punched him first to get all of her frustration out, and then kissed him to show him how she really felt about seeing him again.

Then I heard the quiet conversation on the Phantom they had. From what it sounded like, they were back together. I wasn't sure. She told him to win the war, then ask them about their relationship again. From that only, I could've thought that maybe she was rejecting him. Then I saw their hands intertwine.

I knew that was the beginning of them both being with the squad for the rest of it's time. Captain Dare stayed in her assignment as our team leader- though she, begrudgingly so- shared that power with the Gunny. Romeo would crack a few jokes whenever we happened to be on a carrier, and the two weren't seen for the entire day. Mickey, who in the months before the war ended had become a good friend to me, would quietly wolf whistle while me and him would see them walking together, hands still intertwined. The idiot would hide behind me when the Gunny turned around to see who it was, and would call out Mickey, knowing I would always be quiet about what Gunny knew I noticed.

Mickey always did like talking to me. I guess it was because he talked so much, and I had didn't waste time telling him what to do. I was like a silent counselor- Dutch talked to me when he had worries about Gretchen, and even Romeo came to me about the rare woman that really broke his heart. Mickey was one of the only one I ever talked to, beside the Gunny and Captain. He would ask me about my family, or my girl. He was one of the only people I ever talked to aloud.

But the day I remember the most was the day the war ended. It was in December, and the carrier we were on was nearing Luna. Me and Mickey had been looking out the carrier windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of our home planet. Comically, everyone in the squad had begun to miss Earth. It had sort of a pull for us; I guess it was our planet of special origin wanting us back. It was actually where we had planned to go, when the war was over. Really, we had grown to like the place around Mombasa. And to be honest, none of us really had anywhere else to go. Sure we had family, but family was family. They might not understand just everything we had gone through. For Dutch, Gretchen had been moved to Earth, and he had no want to go back to Mars. Romeo didn't care where he went. The Gunny had probably lost his home, and the Captain too. Mickey was going wherever they were. And while my girl was on Luna, me and her both wanted to go to Earth. So it was set.

But right now, we were going to Luna for an update and carrier supplies. Then suddenly, we heard the ship's AI come over the intercom.

"_The head of commands has an extremely important message for the people aboard this carrier, and any UNSC personnel, or any humans for that matter. On this day, The Flood has been eradicated by a Halo, and with that, the end of the Human-Covenant War has come. Thank you."_

It was quiet for a moment after that. Me and Mickey turned to look at the large group of people in the room; we were in the cafeteria. It was a mixture of ODSTS, Marines, Navy Intelligence, Air Force, everything. There were even a couple of a Spartan-II and a Spartan-III. They all just stared at the intercoms. The message had come so quickly, that people were just dumbfounded. Even I was at a loss of- well, not words, but just _thought_.Then the screaming came.

The first person to react was Dutch. Suddenly, he jumped up out of his seat, and starting to shout and call out to no one. After him, came everyone. Romeo got up on a table and grabbed the girl he had been sitting with. Her name was Rena, and I had a feeling that she was going to stay around for a long time. He pulled her up, and began to kiss her, long and with love.

Mickey start to whoop and holler, and grabbed my shoulders, bringing me forward to the crowd. The ODSTS were starting to throw anything they could find in the air, and everyone else was jumping on whatever was taller than their head. Dutch was still yelling to no one, but he went over and put in a call on a long-distance Chatter to Gretchen. I heard him talking to her, and he turned around to make sure no one saw noticed me, but didn't mind. I wasn't going to talk.

He was crying. I thought it was because he would see her again later, and it was part of it. But it was something else.

Later, he told me that Gretchen was 5 months pregnant. She wanted to make sure she was out of the first trimester before telling him. They both thought they might die before ever being able to have kids; now that they would, he couldn't believe it.

Mickey grabbed a bunch of guys, and started to sing with them. Romeo and Rena joined in, with Rena balanced on Romeo and Mickey's shoulders. I put in my own call to Luna; my girl was probably hearing the news right now, too.

She meant so much to me; I talked to her the most. Leia was her name, and she was the one crying in my call. She was always worried, because of me being an ODST. Now that I was finally coming, I promised to look for her in the carrier port on Luna; she wasn't allowed in their, but Leia had a tendency to get what- or into where- she wanted.

But what I really noticed was the Gunny and Captain. Actually, EVERYONE noticed them. Someone let out a whistle, who was probably Mickey, and suddenly everyone was looking at the two.

Gunny was sitting on one of the tables, and at first was hugging Veronica so hard she got red in the face. Once he let her go, she gave him a long kiss, not wanting to let go. But she gave in, because it got real quiet. She realized everyone was staring, and started to blush, quickly letting go.

But either Gunny didn't notice, or didn't care, because he quickly started to dig something out of his pocket. People got quiet, trying to see what was going on. Even the two Spartans looking on.

After much digging, he finally pulled it out. It was a small, purple box, and once most people saw it they all breathed in at the same time. Romeo called Dutch over from his corner, and when Dutch saw what was going on, he ran over as fast as his legs would take him. Rena stepped off Mickey and Romeo to watch.

I was the one in the very front. I had ended up having a front-seat view of the entire thing, and was watching, observing.

Dare had an expression of confusion, until she saw the box. Even though everyone else was waiting in positive anticipation, the Captain looked...guilty.

Buck's speech would tell why.

He got down on one knee, and opened up the box. In the box, was a beautiful, one karat diamond amber ring.

When the Captain saw what the diamond was, she gasped louder than any proposal gasp I'd heard. Amber diamonds have to be old to be really classified as diamonds, and are usually only sold in rare places on Earth. And the cost would've done more then put the Gunny back a few...

After she breathed back out, the Gunny started his speech.

"Veronica Dare, a long time ago, I asked you to marry me. You didn't answer then. I would've told you later that it was a simple yes or no question, and you couldn't answer. Then, a few years later, you came as a newbie with me on a mission with me and my ODST squad." Chuckling, he continued. "First thing that happened was that one of my squadmates called you beautiful."

Mickey snickered, while Dutch let out a loud guffaw. Romeo chuckled nervously, while Rena punched him in the ribs. "Ow." he murmured. I could even feel myself laughing, which garnered a hit on the back of my head from Romeo. But everyone quieted down to listen to the rest.

"I told them to shut it, and the you took control of the entire squad. You steered us off course, and scattered us across Mombasa. I was pissed off. But that's why I got this ring, an amber diamond. Because of the carrier, In Amber Clad. If it hadn't been because of you not wanting to go near it, we would've died."

Everyone knew the reality of his words, and the feeling of the room was a very serious one.

"No thanks to you, I had to find your pod, since it had stuck itself upside down somewhere in the city. I came to get you, but I couldn't find you. I almost thought you were dead." As the Gunny said this, he swallowed quickly. The Captain didn't stop looking at him, but I saw her starting to rub her neck a bit.

"And then, when I was about to leave you, I knew where you were. I found you with the Rookie of my team and a big, pink alien. It was just like you." He laughed, and so did she. "When we finally got out, you punched me straight across my face for abandoning the mission. Then you kissed me right after." People were still watching, and the Navy Intelligence almost arrogantly nodded their heads.

"Later, I asked you where our relationship was headed. And you told me to win the war, and ask you that again. Well, unless that AI wanted to screw me over bigtime today," That got a chuckle again, even from the Spartans. "we just won the war. So I'm asking you again, but I just decided to specify. I know how you get when I don't listen."

One time, and only one time, I saw a tear go down Veronica's face. Eddie saw it too, but just me and him. He looked worried- hell, he looked scared shitless- but he smiled for her.

"Miss Captain Veronica Dare, will you marry me?" He didn't look sure, or necessarily doubtful either; just wanting an answer.

The Captain coughed a little, which was covering up her tears, but the eventually starting flowing. It didn't make anyone think any less of her though. She brought her hand to her mouth, and shook her head.

While this movement looked to everyone else as a no, I knew she was just trying to be composed. But people started to get nervous, and the Gunny started to frown. But the Veronica chuckled, and replied. "Yes, Eddie. Yes."

The moment she said that, Eddie was dumbfounded. I guess he had been so scared, he almost thought it was a no. But he looked at her, and saw her crying and laughing at the same time, and sprang back on his feet- ring still in hand- and started to kiss her.

The whooping and the hollering started again, and I don't know why, but as soon as the pulled apart I went over and grabbed both of them in a hug. They didn't expect it, but it was returned.

"I knew you would say yes." I whispered to Veronica, and both her and Eddie started to laugh. I knew I was The Rookie, the kid of the squad, but right then I felt the greatest mixture of being the FNG and being part of the group at the same time.

I pulled back, and watched as Dutch came over to deliver a blow to the Gunny's back. Rena and a few other ODSTS lifted the Captain in the air, while Romeo and Mickey took the Gunny. Both crowds merged, and the Captain grabbed the Gunny, toppling everyone over. I could feel the laughter and joy coming from everyone, and I knew it was true. I had heard it as the AI had said it, and felt it when I saw everyone piled onto the other, like a family, with me sticking out from underneath. I knew it when I saw Dutch cry at the news that he had lived through the war to have a kid; when Romeo had no problem with Rena stroking his face, and him holding hers in his hands. When Mickey started sing in a bawdy voice, and everyone was comforted to hear it. Why my girl, who usually never like to show much of herself, had shown it all to me. And she had understood me, and she would love my family. And I knew that we would be together, if not forever, then for a while. A long while.

It was finally the end.


	2. Homecoming

Because of the In Amber Clad

Chapter 2

By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

After the celebration, so many people were mentally changed. For me, I was overjoyed, and if I didn't know things would work out, I would be sad. It was almost bittersweet that I felt like part of the squad during the time that our duty as ODSTS were- for the moment- were over. The UNSC wouldn't call anyone back for quite awhile; most people were sick of war, even the ODSTS. Even if we were made for the thrill of jumping, most of us wanted to go home. To see our families, our friends that we had left behind.

While most of the people on board the carrier might not see home for months, me and Mickey would. By the time everyone stopped running around the place, shouting and screaming in joy, the ship had reached the port in Luna.

Mickey had practically dragged me and the squad by our throats to the front of the ship, where they would let people out. The Spartans were there too, and a few of Veronica's Navy buddies; but besides them, everyone else was in their quarters. Romeo whispered to Rena about a few celebrating _'in their own way, privately'_ as he very openly put it. I wouldn't have been surprised if they participated in that sort of activity themselves, later. If I saw my girl later, I know we would be celebrating tonight for sure.

Mickey was jabbering on to the team- who was listening to him, for once- telling them about his family. Even though they weren't his actual family, they were all that he had had since his parents died. Insurrectionist, died in a bombing. But, from what I heard, it was pretty big, and he talked about them with so much love in his voice. He wasn't one to get emotional, but more like he _had_ emotions. In his voice.

From what I could tell when I listened, as always.

Romeo had his arm around Rena, and both were chuckling at the way Mickey was going on. But they had genuine smiles on their faces, which was a start for Romeo. But he had been smiling more, since Mombasa. I guess it was just the feeling everyone had; one of relief, and now, of victory.

The Gunny hadn't let go of Veronica since the table scene, and she couldn't stop touching the ring that was now on the fourth finger of her left hand. As for Dutch, he couldn't stop grinning, and had his arm crossed in a casual pose, laughing along with the rest of them.

But my eyes were on the huge doors that would open any moment now. Leia had said she would be waiting in the port entrance, but civilians usually needed to get certain permission for entrance. And she hadn't known that I was coming home until a couple days earlier. She was certainly determined to see me as soon as she could, and I wanted the same. I just...wasn't sure.

I'd like to think I would be alright if she couldn't make it. But something about the day just going great so far, left me hoping that it could just continue. It had been so long since I'd seen her.

Mickey had stopped talking, and was now next to me, looking at the doors. "God, it's gonna be great to see Luna again, huh?" He put his hand on my shoulder. "It's been so long. I've missed Crisium like hell. And my family too. You know that restaurant, in the Okinawa plaza, that cooks all that Korean food?"

I did remember this, actually. It was almost mean, the way I remembered it; that was where me and Leia had gone right before I was deployed. I was really hating coincidences right about now. Made me wonder even more about her coming.

But I nodded my head, and smiled at Mickey. He chuckled, and said "Yeah. That place is great; you know Yuna? She makes damn good rice rolls, with the kimchi and everything..." He took a breath, and I could feel the excitement from his tingling arm.

"Man, Rookie, it is going to be SO great to be back home." He couldn't stop grinning, and I let out a silent chuckle. I felt myself grinning too. It was weird, because he always had talked, when we both enlisted, about the military being his home. But once your in it long enough, some people start to miss their real home. Mickey had told me that their were hard times with his family, but he learned to love him; they had always done the same for him. And to me, this place would always be my home; whether I acted it or not.

Suddenly my attention was on the doors. Right as I was about to say something, they started to open. Mickey hollered, and roughly pushing me forward, took off running for the doors. I followed shortly after, tagging along, and I could feel our teammates footsteps on the ground behind us, pattering to keep up.

Whoever was operating the doors must've gotten a kick out of us, because Mickey shot straight through a the small crack that had already opened. On the other side was a hangar, with the windows on opposing walls large and rectangular, showing the starry galaxy. There were so many tanks and Warthog, and other vehicles that would've been loaded on the carrier if the war hadn't ended. It was fitting that for some reason, the way the mechanics were positioned and acting at the vehicles _not _be loaded, pointed to them having the same happiness we had at the end. Especially since they knew that we wouldn't be using them for a while.

But there was a wide area, with metal floors, were it was kept clean of any kind of object. I assumed it was space need for when you loaded things on; right now, it was being used at a meeting ground. There were some many people there, trying to get permission to go on the carrier. Normally, they wouldn't have a chance. But the UNSC knew what people got like, and it was the end of the war. I knew there wouldn't be non-UNSC personnel going on board, just to get family.

As me and the rest of the team tried to keep up with Mickey, I was the first to notice his family. I knew it was them because Mickey kept going in their direction. I saw an older woman, who I assumed was his foster mother, and two younger kids. Me and the team stopped once we got a good distance in direction to his family. Not too close to interrupt, but far enough to come greet them in a few minutes.

We watched as Mickey slowed down, approaching his family. His mom was staring at him with a knowing look, recovering from laughter after watching her adopted son act like such a kid. He approached her normally, and as he got closer, I saw the little kids eyes get wider. I realized they were twins, a boy and a girl. They must have been hers; they looked about 9 years old.

He slowly approached her, now serious, and she looked the same. Almost a little apprehensive, actually. But she stood her ground, with the girl standing at her left, holding her brother's hand.

I felt my team beside me, and Dutch came next to me. "Hey," he whispered. "those Mickey's folks? I thought they died."

I looked at him, bringing my eyes together in an expression that said, _'you expect a reply back? Come on'_. Dutch smirked, and turned to Eddie, who had seen my face.

"It's his adopted family, Dutch. They've been taking care of him for a long time. It's a complicated family, but just watch." Eddie looked back at Mickey, and Dutch with him. "You'll see what its like for him."

Everyone was looking now, but it didn't bother the family. Mickey said something to his mom, and she smiled, holding out her arms. It took him a moment, but he embraced her, hugging her tight. Until then, the kids had been unsure of what to do; but now, their smiles spread from ear to ear.

Mickey kept holding onto his mom, and she was laughing again. I saw his face get a little red, and he let his guard down momentarily. He looked away from the squad, so I guessed he didn't want us to see it; not that we would have degraded him for it.

Once he let go of her, the girl tugged on his shirt. He promptly turned around, and gave out a howl.

"Hey Sam!" he yelled, and abruptly grabbed both of them, swinging them around in a hug.

Veronica smiled, and pulled Eddie forward as we watched the scene. Rena was talking to Dutch about something, but whatever it was made him grin. I started to go forward too, and they followed after.

We got near, and I heard the boy giggling with his twin. Mickey saw us approaching, and put them down. But it wasn't in rejection; he pushed them forward to meet us. The girl immediately frowned, but went along with it.

Once they got to us, the boy started twiddling with is fingers, and the girl grabbed Mickey arm, holding on tight. He sighed chuckling. "Come on guys. These are like your other brothers and sisters." He looked up at us, a little tired. "This girl, is Samantha" he jabbed her back, trying to get her to move, "and this little guy is Sean." Samantha momentarily looked at me, and I gave her a small smile. She half-smiled, but quickly looked away. They didn't seem to sociable. One of us would have to start the conversation.

Then something unexpected happened. The first one of to come forward was- and I'll be damned- Romeo.

He bent down to their level, and started to talk. "Yeah, any sibling of Mickey's is a sibling of ours, huh?" They still looked apprehensive, so Romeo introduced us.

"Now, you wanna know who we are?" They looked up at Mickey, who nodded with wide eyes, so the boy smiled, and the girl nodded her head. Romeo grinned, and started to point out people.

"Now, this here it Captain Veronica Dare. She the only girl on your brother's team, you know." The girl stared at Veronica with wide eyes, and the Captain in turn smiled. "This guy next to her is Gunny Sergeant Edward Buck, and his our team's leader, sort of." He said in a low voice, "They like each other."

The twins giggled at this, and the boy came forward, pointing at the rest of us. "Who are they?" he asked.

Romeo pointed at the rest of us. "This here is Rena, and I'll tell you a secret," He returned to a low voice, "I like her, and I think she likes me too."

"She probably does." The little girl had come forward, and was now smiling.

"Huh. You think so? How come?" Romeo questioned. The girl bared her teeth in a grin, like she had a secret.

"Because" she replied in an equally low voice. "I saw you kiiissss her" She started to giggle again, and this time, the sound of it made everyone want to laugh. Mickey gave Romeo a silent thank you, to which Romeo knocked him on the head. Even though this garnered a loud 'hey!', I knew that Mickey was really happy.

Romeo finished with introductions, and Mickey's family went away to get transport for us; we had been invited to dinner, and they said if anyone else was coming to bring them along.

During that time, Mickey and the rest of us were standing around, just talking about his family. I was surprised that Romeo was so good with kids, and so was Dutch; half the conversation was him, teasingly of course, giving Romeo crap about it.

But I was looking away from the talking, for once. I had realized that the person I was here for, that I really wanted to see, wasn't here. I thought that I wouldn't be upset about it, and that I would be fine. But slowly, I felt myself get sad. I wasn't angry with her, by any means. I understood her not being able to come, but I just wished I could share the moment with her. That she was here when I finally had my feet on the ground; when I had been sent back home, instead of back into hell.

I sighed, and figured that the day was to good to continue in the same fashion.

The group noticed my breath, which I had failed to remember to hide. I only noticed when they stopped, and I turned back to see them. Veronica and Eddie were staring at me head on, looking concerned. The other were surrounding me with the same expressions.

"Rookie?" Eddie asked. "What's up?"

I just shook my head, trying to smile. But for some reason, I couldn't let myself. I saw their expressions deepen, and I knew what they were thinking without them saying it, as always. They wanted to know.

"You wanted to see someone here?" I didn't expect Romeo to ask, but he did. I looked at him, and slowly nodded my head.

"Someone...special?" I nodded again, and half of me was frustrated; for some reason, I felt emotional. It was so out of character for me.

"A girl, right?" For the last time, I nodded. Thankfully, the emotion wasn't visible on my face. I would see her later. But it would just be seeing her now, having her know it was true that I had made out of war, and that she was still here. And I was with her.

Mickey sighed, and patted my back. "Man, she'll be around. Just because you don't see her now, doesn't mean nothing. You'll see her later-"

"It's not the same, Mick." Dutch said. He gave me a knowing look, and I returned it. He probably wished he had Gretchen here, too. Even the Gunny looked at Veronica, and I noticed that he held her a little tighter. Rena went back near Romeo, and stood close to him.

Dutch was about to say something, but then a loud argument from across the empty floor caught the attention of the entire squad.

"...ma'am, you _cannot_ be here, you need to get a certificate of family relations-"

"I don't care! I told someone I would come, and so help me God, you will NOT stop me from doing that!"

The man and woman arguing came into view, with the woman walking in a fast-paced manner towards the blaster doors. They hadn't noticed us yet; they were too busy arguing.

"Ma'am, you need to get off the premises. The UNSC cannot let unaccounted for people just on whenever they want. Do you-"

The girl swung around to argue with him. She had long, straight, medium brown hair, that reached to the middle of her back; her hair was in multiple braids, and all assorted into a bun at the to of her head. She stood at 5'8, and had medium-pale skin; not to pale but not olive. It held a wonderful contrast to the gray all around her. Her eyes were the same color as her hair. Her build wasn't as muscular as the rest of my squad, but she wasn't thin; more like average build. She painted her nails sky blue, and cut them short. And she sounded pissed.

She had her back turned to us, so I didn't see her frontal features. I knew all of this from the past.

"Sir, it is the END of the war. Do you know that? Didn't you see the news on the mega-screens? I heard it in Okinawa square, and I got a call from my boyfriend at the same time, telling my the news. I have been crying for the last two hours, because of how happy I am that it's all over. My boyfriend is an ODST, and I haven't seen him in 7 months. So help me God, even if the UNSC wouldn't let me see him for those months, they won't stop me from seeing him on the day the war ends. So back off, alright?"

He stared at her for a few moments, bu I saw him nodding his head; he understood. After a few moments, he quietly walked off. She stood there for a few moments, and I took the chance then.

I ran towards her, and she heard the patter of my feet, but did have time to turn around. I lifted her up off her feet from behind. She didn't scream, but squirmed, laughing.

"You remember me?" I whispered. It felt weird to talk, after so long. But it felt good. She chuckled, turned to me, holding my face in her hands.

"Oh, I don't know...who are you again?" She looked at me seriously, but had a sparkle in her eye.

"Someone who loves you." I said this loud enough for the squad to hear, and I heard Mickey chuckle. "Huh" Romeo said, "he's definitely taking after me, with lines like that."

"Yeah right, babe." Rena said. They laughed, and I was too. Leia had been crying when I called her, but now she was just exhilarated. I put her down, and bent down to kiss her, full on the mouth. I could feel her warmth against me, her love flowing out to me. I couldn't wait to talk to her, and only her. I wanted us to be alone. She would introduce herself later, and she could be a quiet as I was. She was absolutely wonderful though. I loved her.

"I missed you, hon." she whispered. "It's finally over."

I looked at her, and she stared back. It felt like forever even though it was only a few moments. She always seemed to know what I would say, if I talked.

"Yeah," she told me. "I'm happy too."

As I felt her with me, I felt that feeling of family again. But it was slightly different. It was a feeling of a beginning. Seeing her, right now, made seem everything that had happened dark in her shining light. No matter what happened now, no matter how much this war affected me, I would come out of it. With my friends, my family; my squad, my love. It was funny; if it wasn't because of the In Amber Clad- yet again, I wouldn't be here. Leia would be tortured, hearing news of my death.

I was happy, in the way Veronica and Eddie were. I finally had everyone where I wanted them to be.

I was home.


	3. The Dinner Party

Because of the In Amber Clad

Chapter 3

By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

Mickey's family came back quick, and the dinner we had with them was certainly memorable. It was where everyone talked about their lives, their dreams, and some people even opened up on their fears. I wouldn't have remembered it, if it wasn't for any of that.

My reunion with Leia was one of the highlights of my day. She was happy, but worried, and curious. She wanted to know how I had been, and what had happened to me. Me and her would have alone time later though; the team had caught up with us.

They all introduced themselves, and soon enough Leia was part of my family. I always knew she would be. She had a way of charming people; I would know.

We stood there for very little time, and Mickey's mom came back. And with certificates too; she thought about a just in case event. Very intelligent woman, truthfully. Leia thought so too.

Some of my squad had never been to Luna, and I could tell by the way they acted that they felt left out when Mickey and Leia began to converse with me about the planet. They walked a little behind us, and there faces gave off the impression that they were unsure how to enter the conversation. So I nudged Leia, and when she gave me a questioning look, I nodded discreetly to the squad behind them. She looked at them for a few moments, and understood quickly.

"Hey, do you guys like Korean food?" The entire squad's attention was caught fast. Leia smiled at them reassuringly. "Mickey's been there, and so have me and my boy over her."

"Really?" Romeo got a big grin, and even Rena's hard nudge wouldn't stop his mouth. "You and the Rookie have a good time, huh? Wonder why, you didn't tell us about it, Rookie, or about your girlfriend. Maybe you're a little shy on your personal details, huh?"

Dutch laughed, and I even heard a snicker from Mickey. I narrowed my eyes, but just kept holding Leia's hand. Not even Romeo could make me let go. Leia tugged my arm, grabbing my attention, and raised her eyebrows at me. I felt my eyes even out, and smiled a bit; she was telling me that I knew it was true. I realized she was right, and grinned. Even when Rena closed her eyes serenely, a smile failed to evade her lips. The Gunny looked offended for me.

"Aw, cut it out, Romeo. A guy's business is a guy's business." Romeo looked at Eddie like he was the biggest hypocrite in the world.

"Oh, like you do a good job of keeping in your business!" Rena started to snicker now; she knew what he was talking about. Heck, the entire squad knew what he was talking about. "You and the Captain? Not coming out of your quarters for an entire day? One time you even smelled of her perfume, for Christ's sake! Bet you must of rubbed it on you _real_ good."

Dutch burst into a guffaw, and Mickey laughed, too. I chuckled a bit, and Leia's mouth was a wide with self-contained laughter. The Captain blushed a furious red, and the Gunny looked about ready to tackle Romeo.

"Well, it's not like you do any better, Romeo." Mickey turned and looked him straight in the eye. "You and Rena will do it _anywhere_. It's disgusting" he said, turning to Leia. "like one time when I accidentally walked in on them in a bathroom!" Mickey shuddered with horror at the memory, and Leia joined in on the laughter. After a moment, I thought everyone was going to be quiet again. But talking started itself back up.

"But you still didn't answer my question, _Romeo_," Leia stated. "and that was, do you like Korean food?"

Romeo shrugged, and Rena replied. "Probably hasn't eaten it before. Emerald Cove doesn't have much ethnic stuff; Luna might only have it because it's close to Earth. But I wanna try it. And if I do," she tugged Romeo's arm. "this guy will, too. Whether I want him to or not."

Leia grinned, and moved back, putting her arm around my waist. "And you're called the Rookie?" she asked. "Well, I guess it fits."

"Bet it does. He's the FNG anyway" Eddie had moved up with us, still linked to Veronica.

"Aha. So, should I call you that too now?" Leia was still grinning, but I just shrugged, smiling back. "Alright then. You're my boy, Rookie." She kissed me, and I heard a sigh from Romeo. I turned my head, and gave him a look like _'you have something to say about it?'_.

"I'm just saying, Rookie. If I hear anything from your quarters tonight, I'm not against walking in on ya and telling you to keep it down."

"Nah, you wouldn't do that Romeo." Romeo looked down at Rena, with mock-shock on his face.

"Lady, how would you know that?" Rena smirked, squeezed his arm, and cocked her head in Dutch's direction. He took the lead.

"Because I told her that when you did that to me and Gretch, she clocked you in the face. Left a nice, big bruise too. Which reminds me ... " Dutch promptly punched Romeo hard on the shoulder, and Rena started to laugh.

Mickey turned, grinning at the scene, and so did his mom. "You know," she said. "since you guys don't live here, I'd be happy have you all stay in our house. You must be sick of being on a carrier for so long."

Mickey's grin suddenly disappeared, a fact taken into notice by the team. "Mom, don't have them come to our place!" he cried. "I've been with them on that stupid carrier for months, can't I have some peace?"

"If you've dealt with them for so long, then you can for a couple nights! But really, our place is open for you guys." She gave Mickey a stern looked, and he sighed in defeat.

Dutch and Romeo shared a look, then Romeo looked down at Rena. She shrugged her shoulders, which is the same reaction Veronica got from the Gunny. I looked at Leia, who raised her eyebrows; obviously I was staying at her place instead.

"Hey, I'd go just to annoy Mickey." Eddie started. "What's so bad with us coming, Mick? Don't want us to see the toy air vehicles in your bedroom?"

"Yeah," Dutch joined in. "you got some toy soldiers with mini-bombs strapped on their backs, all in neat formation, just how you left them?"

Being laughed at, Mickey narrowed his eyes. He mumbled something about no privacy, but I did think of one thing the squad didn't. Mickey didn't really deny any of that. I gave a low chuckle at this thought, even though I knew Mickey would have gotten pissed off.

We arrive at the restaurant on Okinawa street; it was unique because the street had mostly Japanese shops and lots. But it was a nice place, not huge but big enough for a few ODSTS and family; even had a balcony section.

We got sat down, and our waitress turned out to be a familiar face. "Mickey! I never thought I'd see you around Luna again!"

Mickey looked away from his mom, and a bright expression a of surprise crossed his face. He jumped up to grab the girl in a bear hug. "Yuna! Yeah, me neither, and I was starting to miss your rice rolls! He let her go, and she flashed a set of brilliant white teeth. They chatted for a bit, and she took our orders; with Leia and Mick's help, everyone found something to try.

While waiting for our food, we just talked. There were so many small conversations going on that night, and so many things to say. Some of them stood out in my mind though.

As we drank some cheongju, and made sure no one drank too much ... yet. The big talks started with Mick's mom.

"So, are you two engaged?" She directed this question to the Eddie and the Captain, while drinking soup. Eddie had been about to swallow some, and in the process of try to respond quickly, started to choke on it. While he hacked it out, Veronica just shook her head, and looked back at Mick's mom.

"Yes. He just proposed today, actually." His mom's eyes widened, her lips curving.

"Really? That's wonderful! It's a gorgeous ring too." The Gunny nodded in thanks, still choking, and Rena began to slam on his back while Mickey's mom continued. "It's sweet, to get an amber diamond. It's different, that's for sure. Must have cost a lot too, but I'm sure it worth it."

He finally stopped coughing, and replied, "Yes ma'am, it is. _She's_ worth it." He looked at Veronica with a smile, and she blushed again; if I ever brought up how much she did that today, she would strangle me.

"He's worth it too." Veronica stared at him a little longer, then was interrupted by Mick's mom.

"Well, have you chosen a date?" They both snapped out of their zone, looked away from each other.

"Excuse me?" Veronica asked, unintentionally rude. Mickey's mom frowned, and Veronica corrected herself. "I'm sorry, Miss?..."

"Mrs. Lafern."

"Mrs. Lafern" Veronica recounted, professionally. "I didn't mean to sound rude, I just...haven't thought about it! He just proposed today and, well, I've just been happy thinking about that for the meantime." Mickey's mom nodded, and was about to let it rest; then the Gunny opened his mouth.

"Well, she's got a good point." The Captain looked at Eddie, confused. He saw her expression, and shrugged with his hands. "Well, we should get it done now! We're inviting all of _these_ idiots" he threw his hand over our heads. "to it anyway, so you wanna pin it down?"

"Umm... The Captain looked like she was out of her comfort zone. It was true, weddings weren't her regular pattern of thought. She didn't have a prepared answer; very unlike her. She had no idea where to begin.

"How about, when you would want it, for starters?" Dutch offered. She blew out some oxygen, and looked like someone had saved her from drowning.

"Well ... how about sometime in March?" she said intelligently. "That's the time of year when the UNSC doesn't recruit much, and they probably won't be doing it much this year now anyway. It'll be a good time."

" ... yeah, that sounds good. Perfect." He grinned. The Captain looked proud of herself. "Now, I got a question for one of you." He looked at all of us, an eyebrow raised, with a serious expression. Romeo went behind Eddie's back, mouthing a to Veronica. She shrugged; she was as unknowing as the rest of us.

After take a good, long look at all of us, his eye finally landed on me. "Rookie, you wanna be my best man?" Veronica's eyes widened, and she looked at me too. Even though most people would've thought she didn't like me, with that face, I knew surprised that he had thought about the wedding enough to remember that aspect of it.

Eddie look earnest. He stared at me, waiting for an answer- knowing me, a nod or a shake of the head. My mouth almost opened, but I didn't know what to say, exactly. I was so surprised that the Gunny had asked me. Then, I felt a sort of happiness. He had asked me.

I felt my lips curve up, and as they did, I saw his do the same. I gave a short nod, and he bared his teeth in a smile.

"Well, alright!" He banged on his fist on the table, and turned to Veronica, looking smug. "I got my part done. Winner."

She narrowed her eyes. "I didn't realize it was a contest! You knew I hadn't thought about this kind of thing!"

He chortled, drinking some more cheongju. "Of course. Why else would I have asked you now?" She frowned, and looked like she might punch him. "It's fun getting you pissed off. It worked wonders for me that last time." I was, again, the only one that knew about that. And in my head, I had a feeling the Gunny was skating on very thin ice.

She blinked, but blushed a furious red again. I snickered, but her head turned in my direction with a look of pure evil. I coughed, and had that be it. Dutch looked back and forth between as, and Rena just shook her head. "I don't wanna know..." she mumbled to Romeo.

"You know what you have to do now, don't you?" She turned back to him with the same look, but it didn't affect him. He knew her that well.

"What?" she spat. I didn't think she would normally do that; she was unusually moody, probably because she felt like and idiot. He chuckled, drinking his soup.

"You need a maid of honor, and we need a guest list." He said this very nonchalantly, but Veronica had the exact opposite reaction. She squeezed the ridge of the table, and narrowed her eyes.

"Fine. We already have everyone here." She turned to Mrs. Lafern. "You're invited as well. And your twins." She winked at the kids, who had witnessed her face of frustration, and were confounded by the quick changed in demeanor. But the girl nodded smiling; the boy just twisted his mouth in a weird shape. Funny kids, already confused with adult behavior.

"I don't think I really want anyone else there ... maybe a few Navy friends. And you too, of course!" She directed this to Leia, who nodded in reply. Veronica smiled, and looked back at Buck. "And as for my maid of honor ..." She twisted to Rena. "Would you do me the honor, Rena? No pun intended?"

Rena chuckled, and nodded her head in agreement. Feeling smug, I'm sure, Veronica turned back to the Gunny, pursing her lips. "Satisfied?"

"Very." He kissed her, and she wanted to pull away immediately, but he held her face in his hands, and she put hers down on her lap.

While the others stared at this with mock-disgust, I cocked my head, looking at them. Even with his eyes closed, Gunny looked like he was looking straight at her. She looked like she was flying high. I studied this, like I usually do people's actions. And to be honest, it wasn't anything I couldn't relate to.

Eddie loved her to death. Literally, he would die. It wasn't one of those old cliches, about lovers being lost without one another through life. He would physically die without her. Now that they had made it this far, his heart might just break in half if anything happened to her.

Veronica, for that matter, would mentally die. The type of person she was, she wouldn't be able to make it without him; she would lose herself. They were two half of the same thing; a physical and mental creature.

And I could relate. I looked at Leia- who was looking away, for the moment- and I realized it was the same with us. I was mental part, and she was physical. Without her, I knew I would be lost in my own silence. I would go crazy.

I finally had something in common with my team.

I smiled at her when she turned in my direction, and she cocked her head to the side, wondering what I was doing. I just shook my head, and kissed her check. She giggled, and took another drink of cheongju.

"Hey Mickey," asked Rena. "I thought you enlisted to get out of foster care. How did you end up with Mrs. Lafern?"

The twins giggled, and Mrs. Lafern almost spit out what she was eating. She giggled too, and Mickey narrowed his eyes at the twins.

"I haven't even answered the question, and already you guys are gonna give it away?" The just continued to giggle, and the boy jumped up to lean toward Mickey.

"It's funny! Mom was so mad with him, and then he just acted stupid and-" Mickey clamped a hand over the boy's mouth, pushing him back.

"I'll tell the story, ok? It's bad enough that you already invited them to our house ... " he murmured. He turned back to Rena, still pouting.

"Look, I came back to Luna when I got some free time, ok? I wouldn't admit that I missed it, but I did. So I came to this restaurant, and was sitting at the balcony above us, trying to enjoy my meal. Then, _they_ appeared." He pointed to the twins, who as of yet, hadn't stopped giggling.

"Quiet!" He commanded, then turned back to us. "They kept screaming at each other at the tables below the balcony, and it was annoying everyone! Mom here was trying to get them to sort it out, but it wasn't working."

"I was going to take them out in a few minutes ... " Mrs. Lafern mumbled. Mickey's jaw dropped and put his hands in the air in mock-surrender.

"Hey, it didn't look like it! So while everyone wanted to be polite and not get involved and not risk getting kicked out of the restaurant, I leaned over the edge and shouted at them to shut up and if they didn't get out I would kick them out."

He saw our faces look at him with slight disgust, and he retracted his statement. "I wasn't _really_ going to do that! I just said that, as- as a bluff!"

He still got a look from Dutch, and just shook his head. Samantha couldn't contain herself, and cut off Mickey. "And momma was scared at first, but then since we had stopped screaming, she was looking at him, got _mad_-"

"Samantha!" Mickey stopped her, and she closed her mouth, shooting Mickey's own expression back at him. She sat down though, and he finished.

"Yeah," he said, drinking cheongju. "Mom starting yelling at me, telling me stuff like 'how dare you threaten my kids', and I started shouting back. So I was leaning over the balcony and we were both yelling really loud, and the waiter was going to pull back, when I reached a little too far over the balcony, and-"

"He toppled over." finished Mrs. Lafern. The kids burst out laughing at the memory, and Mickey cringed. "Mickey had been shouting so much that he forgot he was hanging over the balcony, and just fell right over." She chortled at the memory, patting her son's back. "It was a pretty fun scene, I mean, this big guy just went right over the edge and onto the table."

We all pictured that for a moment, and after a moment of silence- maybe out of smile respect for Mickey- the first one was Leia. She started to laugh, and stopped momentarily, then continued laughing at the image in her head. Veronica was grinding her teeth, and Eddie laughed the loudest; this gave leeway for Dutch and Romeo to join in.

"It wasn't that funny..." Eddie leaned toward Mickey, still laughing.

"Oh, I agree Mickey. It would've so much funnier if I could've been there to laugh in your face.

Mickey glared at the Gunny, and sat back in his chair. It was like Mickey though; smart as he was, he could be the most oblivious person on the team. Mrs. Lafern patted Mick on his back, and finished the story.

"So I was snapped out of my anger, and the only thing I felt was worry. I was scared for the man, I mean, he had practically flipped over mid-air! So I went over to help turn him right, and he wasn't injured. Just dizzy, that's all. So the twins helped me lift him out of the restaurant- I left money for him and us- and we set him down outside. He was just murmuring a bunch of gibberish, so we took him home and put him in the guest bedroom. When he finally walked out, he recognized the twins, and started to laugh at the entire situation too."

"I only laughed because I couldn't believe those two little people could lift me out of there." Mickey said defensively. He was still annoyed, but his sister jumped out of her chair to get on Mickey's back and hug his neck.

"Don't be upset, Mickey. You're just funny, that's all." A smile creeped across his face, and he patted his sister's head.

"Yeah, yeah, alright." The girl hugged him tighter, then went over to her mother and did the same. The boy grinned at Mickey, and got a pat on the head from his mom. They seemed like a real family, and I looked a little closer at their faces. They all seemed generally happy; not like the perfect family, but more like one that had been through enough to to realize how much they cared for each other. It was the family that I knew, no matter how much they denied it, everyone wanted to have.

That was what everyone was talking about when they talked about family.

"After a few weeks of getting to know us, we were so attached to each other even my husband didn't mind him. So, even when he was deployed again, we filed some paperwork, and we were put as his legal parents. He was already past 18, so it was just a matter of certification. But we wanted it, so it was." Mrs. Lafern put one hand on her left right, and turned her nose up at him. "And now we're stuck with him. Forever. Huh!" she chuckled.

"Yeah, I do feel sorry for you on that." Romeo put in. That made Mickey chuckle, even though he bent his head down to hide it. He turned back at us, looking like he had never been upset.

"Speaking of families," he glanced at Dutch. "how's Gretch? They give her a new leg?"

"Yeah, actually." Dutch's face brightened at talking about his wife. He turned to Mrs. Lafern, explaining the situation. "Gretch is my wife, ma'am. She was an ODST, and got her leg blown off. It was ... really bad. They took her to Earth. We were both worried, that they couldn't do anything about it."

He sighed, and Romeo mock-punched Dutch's shoulder; for those two, it was an act of support. Dutch chuckled. "But, the doctor's there are smart ma'am. They helped my wife get her leg back."

Mrs. Lafern's eyes came together in confusion. What? Did they replace it with robotics, or?... "

Dutch shook his head. "No, they did much better. The way they told me, they took her DNA and were able to flash-clone her leg. The reattached it in surgery, and now, well, my wife's got her leg back." He looked down, keeping his emotions in. He still hadn't told everyone the big news, not even to Romeo. I was the only other one that knew.

Romeo was puzzled with Dutch's behavior, and looked at his face. "What's going on, Dutch?"

Dutch instantly looked up, and gave- what I noticed to be- a fake smile. "Nothing, Romeo! I'm happy, you know?"

Romeo shrugged, but nodded. Leia tapped my shoulder, and gave me an inquisitive look, for she too had noticed his look. I leaned over and whispered too her the news, and his worries. She breathed in an _'oh'_, and glanced back at him. Dutch was now facing down again, and even I was a little nervous for him. I couldn't imagine what is was like for him; not only was his wife on a completely different planet, but she was pregnant. And he couldn't be there for her, to celebrate with her, and go with her for the pregnancy. And he was the only one that didn't have his girl here, with him, either.

I tapped the table across from him, and he glanced up, trying to smile again. I shook my head, and he frowned. Leia reached across the table, her hand open for anything. It was a God send that no one was looking. They always seemed to do that when I wanted to talk to one of them. I didn't know if it was intentional, or just my luck, but it was good. For me.

He looked apprehensive, but he was a perceptive man; he figured she was trying to help. So he put his hand in her, and she held it tight. I put my hand on her lower arm, as a sign that I was here too. He half-smiled, and didn't necessarily respond to her gesture. But held on for a couple seconds, then slowly retracted his hand.

After eating, Mrs. Lafern and Eddie got into an argument over the check, and to settle it I placed down some money, and grabbed both hands when they tried to take it. I shook my head, and Mrs. Lafern surrendered quickly.

The Gunny crossed his arms, but I put my hand in front of me, shaking my head. Then I pointed to the ring on the Captain finger, and he looked back and forth between that and the check. Veronica came up, and informed him, "I think he means it sort of a special occasion, and he's got the check for us."

"Oh." Eddie looked back and smiled. "Alright. Thanks Rookie. Means a lot, actually." He lightly patted my shoulder, and started to go out with the everyone else.

I felt Leia grab my arm, and I turned over to look at her eyes. It had been so long since I'd seen them, and I was content to stare at them forever. Big, brown eyes, that held a lot of caring for anyone that wanted it.

While we walked out, and I looked at her, I thought about all the discussions we had during the dinner. It had been nice, to talk with people you knew, after so many bad things had taken place. It was the end of one thing, and the beginning of a long flow of so many other things. I saw a kid with Dutch, a woman for Romeo, a man for Rena, a life for the Captain and Eddie, and family with Mickey.

And for me, I saw a beginning with all of them. My story doesn't end here, but it's important to understand how I felt about them. And how I felt about myself, and about my love, and the life I would soon transition into. With their help.

The transition started with that night's dinner party.


	4. Scent of a Girl

Because of the In Amber Clad

Chapter 4

By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

The night we had dinner was one of the best nights of my life. Everyone was so happy, and the happiness made me feel brighter. I helped Dutch and Eddie out, and it made me feel like I was important. Leia had even gotten to know a little about them, something I was expecting. I knew that everyone felt important, when they were out with family and friends. I'd looked at people long enough to understand it was the normal. My life had never had total normality, though. I was an ODST. No ODST had had a completely normal existence. But the people we care for, and who care for us, always have a way of bringing the best out of us, no matter the situation.

After dinner, I went over to Leia's place. It was comforting to see a familiar, home-like setting. I felt good on carriers, but her place was much better.

I should've said _our_ place; it was my unofficial location of residence. I had joined the UNSC before meeting her, and had given up my home. But when I met her, my life changed, for the better. We eventually moved in together, and her place was where I would always go whenever I came home.

The others had taken Mick's mom's offer of staying in her home; Mickey had known they would take the offer, and he had gotten over his pouting. Most people that spent that much time on a ship would jump at the first chance they got at civilization, and he wasn't going to deny it to his teammates.

When my squad figured I was going to Leia's, they made sure to tell me their thoughts on the subject. "Just don't be get up too late tomorrow Rookie," Romeo advised. "or else we'll just have to come wake you up ourselves."

"Don't listen to him Rookie." Dutch told me. "He knows that if your girl here don't sock him in the face, you will."

"Didn't stop me last time, did it? ..." Romeo mumbled. He turned back to me, smirking. "You guys haven't seen each other in 7 months, right? Huh. That's a while to be inactive. Just don't get to excited; I don't want to be able to here it all the way at Mick's place."

"Guys, shut it!" Mickey pointed at the twins, who had the most comically confused expressions glued to their faces. Romeo's mouth opened to retort- in a way the kids couldn't understand of course- but Rena covered his mouth.

"If you're not quiet, then you're not gonna have anything to talk about with them, from anything that may or may not happen tonight, involving you and me. Got it?" He rolled his eyes, but took her hand away from his mouth, keeping quiet. This drew a sparkling laugh from Leia, and I hugged her tighter to my chest.

Once we arrived at Leia's, I almost felt a little out of place. I had been gone for so long, that I almost was afraid I wouldn't feel normal here. But once I stepped in, I felt like I was home.

On Luna, everything was connected by tubes; sealed from vacuum. Where Leia lived was a sort of apartment, but it was a little smaller. When you walk in, there was a living room, with the walls a tan color. To your left is a kitchen area, and at the left of the living room is a laundry room. To the right of the living room, there was a small hallway that lead to her bedroom, a bathroom, and a guest bedroom. It was shaped in a sort of oval way, but it wasn't cluttered. She had an end table in the living room, with three armchairs. There was a TV propped up on another table, and a home Chatter on the wall.

She had something of ours here too. Near the laundry room door, there was a guitar on it's stand, with a music sheets on the floor next to it. There was a bookcase to it's left, and a piano on the living room side of the kitchen counter.

"So, you remember this place, Rookie?" I smiled at her, and she giggled. Pulling me over, she gave me a quick tour of the area.

"Here was where you would play the guitar, and I would sing, remember?" I rolled my eyes, but nodded happily at the memory; I knew that she knew that some of our happiest memories were here. She never sang in front of guests, unless she was very close to them personally, but couldn't help herself when she was with me. "Or, you might play the piano. I still have your music sheets." I was a little surprised at that; before I left, I was usually too depressed about how long I would be gone to write anything I thought was good. She noticed my shock.

"I read them. They were better than you thought, just a little too sad. They won't be now though." She rotated around, and pulled me to the end table.

"Remember when we would watch TV ... usually about the war?" I was caught by the tone of her voice; it had changed, from contained joy to unusual sadness. Her eyes weren't as wide, and she tightened her grip on my hand, as if I might leave again.

"It was after you left, I started to watch it everyday. I watched LCNS for names of people from Crisium that were injured, or dead. I had to be sure ..." I tugged on her hand, and when she turned toward me, I raised my arms to my sides, motioning to myself. She chuckled, and put her arm around my waist.

"Yeah, I know you're here. How could I not?" I shrugged, and tapped my head. She scoffed at this.

"I wouldn't forget you! I remember you fine. I remember how you would always be so quiet, letting me talk more than I do normally. Only with you ... like now." I nodded my head with exaggeration, and she smirked, tightened her arms near her ribs. I mumbled an 'ow', and she loosened again. She straightened herself, and wrapped her arms around my neck.

"And you've got a bunch of expressions that people who don't know you just can't pin down, but I can." I grinned, and she did the same. "And I remember how I would be talking, and I would just feel so much better listening to just ... silence! So much better instead of normal advice; you gave it to me without talking. You were quiet, but still had a voice."

I put my forehead against hers, and put my hands over her ribs. Her eyes drooped, and our noses touched as she looked up. "I never let my guard down for anyone but you, Rookie. When I'm with you, I just act different. I don't have to be so serious around you, because you do it for me." She stroked my cheek, and I was content to say like this. But something seemed off about the action. It was out of care, but the feeling was odd. I could tell she was relieved, but almost a little scared, too.

"Are you sure you're ok, hon? You don't seem different, but ..." She trailed off, sighing. "Everything is changing. And I'm afraid, even if the war is over. The peace seems so unstable ..."

I took my forehead away from hers, and looked her in the eye. She smiled weakly, but I could see the worry in her face. I took her face in my hands, and kissed her lightly on the lips. Then I looked her in the eye again, and I felt my throat scratch.

"I remember you singing." Her eyes opened more at my voice, as if she had just found water after being lost in a desert for weeks. Or months. 7 months, to be exact.

"I remember that you're a mezzo-soprano. And we wrote two love songs, but stopped at that, because we liked writing songs that made us feel happy, and we both thought it would make us sad since I was leaving. I remember you watching the news, and seeing you look depressed, and me wanting hug you and make you feel so much safer, but knowing you would feel even worse later, no matter what I did. And missed running my hand in your hair, and the feeling of being the luckiest guy in the world whenever I walked down the tubestreets with you. And I don't know what's going to happen either. But I do love you. That won't change."

Her mouth opened, probably having been doing so ever since she really heard me talk. She had heard me in the hangar, but she knew I really only talked like this with her. It was just the way I was. She had cried on the Chatter call, and I had felt like doing the same. But now, it wasn't sadness she was emanating. It was more along the lines of absolute calm. She smiled, and reached to my neck again.

"I love you too. And I love your voice. And I love that you can stay here for a while, with me, right?" I gladly nodded my head, and her smile got wider. She looked towards the hallway to her bedroom, and looked back at me, baring a full set of teeth now.

"You remember my bedroom, right Rookie?" I felt myself smirk, and raised and eyebrow. She huffed. "Well, someones sure of himself! I guess you remember it _too_ well. Which means I might have to have you sleep in the guest room, just for a new setting ..."

"Haha, right." I said. She cocked her head, and I copied her. She was about to open her mouth, but I picked her up, and made the way to her bedroom for us. She was laughing the entire way.

When she had gone to sleep after our reunion, I followed shortly after. But while I lay there, with my hand over my girl's bare chest, I realized that I hadn't thought of being a Helljumper at all today. Or at the very least, not much. She was like a medicine that made my mind forget the bad things, at least for a while. I wondered if I did the same for her, or if it was the same for Gunny and the Captain. But even if it wasn't for them, or for others, it didn't matter. That's how it was for Leia and me. And I put my nose in her long hair, happy that the scent, instead of being one of blood or Warthog exhaust, was ... nothing. How good it was for it to be peaceful, _nothing_. I didn't know what it would be like now that the war had ended; if it would be good or bad. I had started to wonder after dinner, and I still didn't know the answer. But the day had proved to me the multiple things I was hoping for. That I would stick with my squad, which was the closest thing I had to family. But also, that she, my girl, would stick with me, and that we would all help each other. I didn't say this to anyone; it was good enough thinking it in my head. Thinking about what I wanted, and may get. And for now, I was happy.

When I woke up in the morning, Leia was already awake. She had been looking at my face, and continued to do so as if I had never woken up. Her hand was on my chest, and I moved my hand to cover hers. She was on her back, and turned on her side to look me head on.

"You were on Earth?" I nodded. "Mombasa?" I nodded again. She did too, then glanced down onto the bed. She bit her bottom lip, nervous. I placed my other hand on her cheek, asking a question. She looked at me again.

"That's why I cried, when you called on you Chatter. I had just been watching a news report on Mombasa when they put the news about the war on TV. And, even though I knew you could die anytime, for some reason, I just ... I realized where you had been, and I just got emotional, and-"

I put my hand to her lips, quieting her. Than I put moved her hand up to my neck, to feel my heartbeat. She closed her eyes, and sighed. "But you're alive. I know. I just can't help but think that we'll have problems anyway. And we don't have anyone else."

I put her hand back down, my eyelids drooping as well. But I shrugged, and reached up to my dog tags, shaking them at her. She took them, and held them in her hand, reading the part that gave info on my squad and ODST position. She brushed her thumb over it, and smiled.

"But ... they are your family. Right?" I nodded; she understood what I was trying to tell her. She kept smiling, and looked back at my dog tags. "We won't be alone ... I like that thought. Do you think they'll accept me in?"

I rolled my eyes, but chuckled, grabbing her shoulders, and gave her a small shake. She laughed too, and moved closer to me. "Yeah, I know, of course they will. They already have, I suppose." She kissed me, and my arms lost movement. It was long and wonderful, like when I had seen her at the hangar. She released, and stroking my check, sat up. Pulling one of the bedsheets around her, she got up.

Honestly, I didn't want her to leave. After so many months alone, being in my own head made me just a little tired. Romeo's comment shot into my mind. I grabbed her arm, to which she turned around.

I shook my head, and she huffed. In response, I moved my hand down her back, and could feel her shiver under the touch. But she pulled me up with her, and I got my shorts from the floor, following her into the bathroom. "I have to eat something you know, and shower." I sighed noticeably, and she smirked.

"Well, you could always join me ..." I grinned at this prospect, and she laughing at my immediate reaction. "God Rookie, under all that strength, and peace, and silence, you can really be one ... _anxious_ guy." I just looked at her, sighed, and held up 7 fingers. She held her hands up in mock-defense. "Hey, I know it's been 7 months. You don't think you're the only one that's noticed that, do you?" I dropped my hand at my sides, as she turned on the faucet. I went behind here, to nuzzle the top of her head, drawing a sharp, laughing breath from her. I was hoping to take in the smell, just in case the water changed it; later on I knew it wouldn't. But I just liked the scent.

The scent of nothing, the scent of peace. Leia's scent.


	5. Free Music

Because of the In Amber Clad

Chapter 5

By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

After finishing up what she wanted, Leia realized it was only 7 AM. I knew my squad would be up, but not next to each other; probably just next to their respective lovers. Knowing that, they wouldn't be meeting up with us any time soon.

So we decided to stay in until 9 AM, and all we did was play music. It had been so long since I had heard anything other than gunfire, and it was refreshing to feel a guitar in my hands instead of a weapon. I strung each chord, and Leia vocalized in the right tune. We even played a few songs we never wanted to listen to; the ones that brought saddening memories for us. But at that moment, they just seemed like a bad joke. When I played her piano, my fingers moved across an instrument instead of a dead soldier's body. Leia voice voice soothed my brain, and temporarily erased the screams of terror that I had heard in Mombasa, from my head.

I did really love music. I had never thought of taking it seriously, really, until I heard a band play in Okinawa plaza. I had gone there with an ex-girlfriend of mine, and it was a certainly different kind of music. I heard a few other Marines that were there call it flip music. Whatever it was, I liked it. It sounded old but new at the same time, like someone had brought music from the past and revitalized it. And it made me feel better, too. It gave me a new feeling, a good break from my job.

Ever since then, I had had a new respect for my ability to play music. I knew I was better than most too; while some just messed around with it and made stupid songs that supposedly did well with the public, I would never try it. Some people wrote love songs, others wrote songs out of depression; I had always been in the middle of either. I wrote song that I hoped would bring me hope, even though during the war, they would try to bring me down; as to love, I would write one here and there, but I wasn't crazy about it. I just wrote anything that came to my head.

It was how I met Leia, in an indirect way. I had been going to the record store, hoping to buy some music to learn. When I got there, the entire store had a long line, all because of a small group at the front.

I saw a boy and two girls, all arguing lividly with the manager of the store. While they were clumped together, another girl stood in the back, holding an electric guitar.

She had long brown hair, and instead of a braided bun it hung in a simple braid down her back, probably so she wouldn't get overheated while playing. At the time, it stretched to her mid-thigh, at least.

But it wasn't her hair that grabbed my attention; it was that she had a certain expression on her face, that out of all the observation I've done in my entire life, I had never seen before. I wondered at what she was thinking, and began to ignore the long amount of time I was standing in line. She had an look I had never seen before, gazing in the direction of the manager and band. She looked a little cut off from the group, even though you would think she was part of it. But she stood back, letting things flow without her input. She was as quiet as me.

The line had been moving, without my knowing. I had just shuffled my feet forward whenever someone nudged me to do so, entirely focused on this girl's face. I reached the register, and was immediately snapped out of my zone by the manager's red face telling my to pay for my record or get out.

I twisted towards him, surprised by the sudden noise in my silent head. The girl switched her gaze to me out of the corner of her eye, and the manager yelled at me again to hurry up. I quickly pulled out my money, payed for the record, and tried to hurry out of the store, embarrassed. I had tried to figure her expression with no success, and had gotten myself a public scene instead.

But while I went out, the band did as well. I tried to hurry past them, but I felt someone tap my shoulder. I sighed, and turned to whoever it was, only to find it was the same girl I had been studying.

"You know, it's not nice to stare at people." she raised an eyebrow. "They might think you don't like them, or that you're weird."

I just looked at her, and when I didn't talk in return, averted my eyes. She followed me with her head, waiting. "Well?" she questioned, a hint of impatience. "Are you gonna tell me why you were staring, or what?"

I looked back at her, and motioned from her face to the band. I didn't think she would understand, and maybe she would just think I was strange and go away, since most people realized I wasn't mute. But surprisingly, she got it.

"I wasn't staring at them, I was just watching them. I'm not really part of the group, and-" She stopped short, and her eyebrows knitted together.

"Who are you?" she asked. "I don't ever talk with anyone immediately. I'm surprised I approached you in the first place." I simply shrugged, and motioned a hand towards her face. She didn't understand, and I became irritated. How could she get one motion and not another? I didn't talk, and I wanted to touch her to make it easier to understand. But if I touched her face she might get the wrong idea. However, she seemed like she might just walk away, and something wanted her to understand what I was saying. So I thought quickly, and put my hands to her face.

At first she gasped, and I noticed that she tightened her grip on the guitar she was holding; she might have been about to hit me with it. But something made her pause, and that gave me time to tell her what I wanted.

I moved my fingers across certain aspects of her face, and put slight pressure on certain areas that formed her unique expression. Then I slowly lowered my hands, and left her to figure it out.

Her mouth was still open, but her eyes were looking up, thinking. Then she closed her mouth, still completely puzzled.

"What are you trying to tell me?" I sighed, and almost turned around, figuring it was another person that didn't grasp any sort of idea about who I was. Then I heard the next thing she said.

"That was how you were looking at me!" she said accusingly. "How is that supposed to tell me why you were staring at-"

She stopped again, and looked behind me. I twisted my neck around, and saw that the band was staring at us. The two boys looking in awe, and the other girl tapping her foot impatiently.

"Uhhh...ummm..." The girl I had been talking to was bright red.

"You're _talking_?" One boy almost yelled this, he was so shocked. The red on the girl's cheeks deepened, and quickly walked over to the group, keeping her head down.

"How did you get her to talk?" I looked at the second boy, who had the exact expression of shock as the other. "She never talks to anyone, practically!"

I just shrugged, and the impatient girl huffed. "Whoopee! She talked! Amazing, the little hermit actually spoke to someone!" The girl with the braid narrowed her eyes, but was still looking down. The boy who had talked to me turned around, annoyed.

"Don't be a bitch, Kaylet. We're just surprised, that's all." They started to argue again, and I quickly moved passed them. The two boys didn't understand why she was being impatient, but I did; she was my ex-girlfriend that had taken me to the flip music concert. Needless to say, her mouthy nature with my silence hadn't made us last long.

But as I passed the girl with the braid, I grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the group. She resisted at first, but then went along with me.

We went to the Korean restaurant where years later, we would eat with an ODST squad; but now, we just sat there, talking. It wasn't the pointless jabber and gossip of Kaylet's talk, even though I think she tried to make conversation that way. But she quickly dropped that act, and talked normally. There were a few quiet moments, but they were nice. Neither of us minded them, for sure. We sat there, and figured out the reason we didn't know what the other was thinking; we both had the same expression, because we shared a common trait. We observed people.

I had found someone similar to myself. After that, I didn't feel quite so alone anymore.

As I looked back on this memory, I looked up at Leia; she was singing, and smiled when I caught her eye. We were older now, and it was nicer too. We knew each other much better than before, and it helped us both. Unbeknowest to me, we would need each other's help much more in the future to come.

After we finished, we decided to go back down to the UNSC hangar. That was where everyone had agreed to meet the day before, and we got there around 9:30.

You couldn't tell the time from looking into the sky, of course. It was always the same in Luna, the same starry look. I liked to look at it, even if it could hold so much bad past it's own galaxy. The stars themselves didn't have anything to do with good or bad; they were too pure to be related to any other thing in the universe.

Once we got to the hangar, I saw the squad converged in a corner, looking at something. Well, half of them; Dutch, and Mickey. The others stood a little ways away, and the Captain was shaking her head at something.

Leia let go of my hand, and I looked back at her to see why. She simply smiled, and nodded towards the Captain. I opened my mouth in an _'o'_, and left her to go towards Mickey and Dutch.

"When are they gonna put the stay time on?" Mickey sounded restless, and I noticed him fidgeting. Dutch simply had his arms crossed, and shrugged.

"Whenever they feel like giving us some relief, Mickey." The continued to stare at the electronic message board. "You know how the UNSC is, even with small carriers."

"Yeah, but I can't believe they're taking this so long. The war ended _yesterday_." Mickey said.

"Exactly!" Dutch countered. "Which means they probably have a bunch of crap to clean up. I know you wanna know, you don't think I'm as impatient as you are right now?"

Mickey sighed, and I tapped his shoulder, causing him to jump. He turned his neck, and gasped. "God, Rookie, don't do that. You scared me." I poked his fidgeting arm, and he scoffed.

"It's not because I'm anxious, you just have a sneaky way of approaching someone!" I rolled my eyes, and pointed to the electronic board. Mickey motioned to punch it with his hand in mock-anger.

"I wish I could do that to this stupid board, anyway. Me and Dutch are waiting to for the UNSC to tell everyone on the carrier how long it's gonna be here. And their taking a long damn time."

"I already told you Mick. Crap to clean up. Besides, you should be happy; each day they don't tell you is one more day on Luna."

Mickey simply shook his head at Dutch's logic, and looked back at the board.

I noticed the difference in wait between the two; Mickey was fidgeting, nervous. He didn't think they'd tell him the news he wanted, which I guessed was staying here a little while longer. On the other hand, Dutch was standing fairly still, with his arms crossed. He was looked confident, but that was just on the outside; his half-closed eyes and oddly curved mouth told me he was just as nervous. And I knew he was hoping that the carrier would go to Earth, at least for a little while.

I turned my neck to look at the other part of my squad, and noticed that Rena wasn't with them. But Romeo looked fairly happy, so I figured she had just decided to enter the carrier again. I walked over to them to listen in on the conversation.

" ... and you should've seen the celebration last night!" Romeo exclaimed. "Rena went there early this morning, and everyone was lying everywhere, some of them were drunk, most of them were hungover. It was one hell of a night."

I was briefly reminded of Gunny's comment after rescuing the Captain in Mombasa.  
"And boy, did they have a a time!" Romeo laughed, and Veronica looked a little disgusted, but she was more so tired than anything.

He laughed even more at her expression, and I smiled. It was uncharacteristic for him to be so energized, but I guess he had had a good night. "It's alright Captain, we know why you're so tired anyway. You and Gunny both."

"Watch you mouth, Romeo." Veronica's eyes narrowed. "Just remember that Rena has no problems taking orders, work related or not."

"Sure, sure." Romeo waved her off. He turned to Leia.

"So sweetheart, how was your night?" She raised her eyebrows, and he scoffed. "What, you can't tell me about it? Rookie still shy about the _inner workings_ of your relationship?"

Leia bent her head, and to be honest, in a smart-ass way. The Gunny laughed, and I chuckled at it too. Romeo smirked, taking thee challenge.

"Oh, I see. It's _private_, right?" He chortled. "Would it still be private if I told you I could hear it all the way at Mickey's place?"

"That's interesting; you must not have been too busy to have been listening so intently. I guess you and Rena weren't doing much last night." Leia crossed her arms, waiting for an answer. The Captain laughed without guilt, and I went behind Leia, putting my arms over hers.

Romeo opened his mouth, but the Gunny cut him off. "I wouldn't try it, Romeo. She's got more time to think about what she's saying then you do. That is, assuming you _can_ think."

"You know what Gunny, I'll bet you-"

Whatever comment Romeo was about to make was cut off by Mickey's ever-loud holler.

"YEAH!" He jumped in the air, landing back down with a noticeable _'thud'_. "We're staying for two more weeks, yes man!"

Dutch's head was bent down a bit, and he looked disappointed. But his face quickly brightened. He realized that two weeks was pretty short, knowing the war was over.

"Why are you so excited?" The Captain sighed. "It's hardly a break, not like the usual month."

"Yeah, right!" Mickey ran over. "I'm just happy that I've got a week or two with my family. I was afraid we'd head straight to Earth!" Dutch's mouth curved in an odd fashion again, but Mick didn't notice. He ran towards the hangar exits, and I assumed it was to tell his mom the news.

Dutch walked over calmly, and even though there was a shadow in his eye, the rest was light. "Well, I guess we're stuck here for awhile. You guys are gonna show us the sights," he said, looking at me and Leia. "right?"

"Of course." Leia told him. "We'll show you where there's some good music, too. They always have something going on in Okinawa plaza. And you should hear Rookie, he-"

I put my hand over her mouth, and she turned her neck to look in me in confusion. She removed my hand slowly, and cocked her head. I shook mine, and weakly smiled. She opened her mouth in a wide _'o'_, and gasped.

"What?" She said this loudly in my ear, and I cringed. I tried to smile again, but it didn't take the look of surprise away from her face. She put her hand on my fingertips, asking why I hadn't told them about my music.

I just shrugged; I really never had an actual time when I wanted to necessarily talk about it. Sure, I told Mickey about my life, and sometimes I talked with the Gunny and Captain. But never about the music.

She huffed, and leaned back against my chest. The rest of the team looked confused as well, and a little annoyed.

"Mind telling us what you're talking about?" Dutch questioned. Leia looked at me, then back at Dutch.

"What my boy has failed to tell you" She elbowed me in the ribs as she said this. "is that me and him are freelance musicians."

The team began to look at us funny. The Captain looked at Eddie, and he just looked at us. Dutch scratched his head. "Freelance musicians?"

"She means that they'll play music for anyone that needs it."

We all turned to Romeo, and I was a little surprised he knew what we were talking about. He shrugged, not thinking anything special of it.

"They had a few of them in Emerald Cove. They would play in a bunch of different bands for the Marines, or anyone else that would pay them to, for that matter."

"He's right." Leia informed the squad. "Freelance musicians are musicians that don't want to be in a band, they just like to play for the music. So, if the band needs a certain instrument played, or if another bandmate is sick or something, they go looking for a freelance musician to fill in the spot. You wouldn't think they're needed a lot, but its amazing how much money I get from it. Rookie and me are a pretty good team too," She turned to me and kissed my cheek. "because of how many instruments we play. His favorite is the acoustic guitar, and I like to sing."

"Really? You seem so quiet." The Captain smiled, finding something interesting in Leia. "In fact, this may be the most I've heard you talk since I've met you."

Leia shrugged. "I talk a little more around people I know better. I don't know you terribly well yet, but Rookie does. And I talk to him the most."

The Captain nodded. "So, are we going to be able to hear any music from you guys?"

"Well, as long as my boy here has no problem with it. And to I don't think he would, right?" she said. I simply put my hand to my throat, and she grinned. The squad too.

"Yeah, we know Rookie. Singing is the one thing you wouldn't do. We'd probably rather hear Leia voice anyway. Much nicer I'm sure" Gunny joked. Then he held a look of mock-irritation. "So, why didn't you ever bother to tell us about your musical talent?"

I tapped my finger on my wrist, drawing a sigh from Veronica. "There's been plenty of time! We've talked to you so much anyway ..." There was a twinge to guilt in her voice, like she should've known all of this about me to begin with.

"Haha, don't worry. I do the same with him. The talking." I could feel the laughter coming from Leia's ribcage, loud and real. It was a good feeling, a small shake against my fingertips. Sort of like the string of my guitar. It was familiar.

We explained this all to Mickey, who came back quickly. He had brought Rena along, as she hadn't been in the carrier. She was temporarily looking after Mick's sibling.

She was as happy as he was to stay longer. Rena's life had been anything but stable, and her parents usually moved from planet to planet. She always like staying in one place, just to collect her self. Even if only for a couple weeks.

"Well, looks like we've got two weeks to rest and relax." She giggled at the thought of ODSTS doing this at all. "It'll be so nice! Free music, and a free tour around the city, right? And you can board the carrier you know." She motioned towards Leia. "I talked with my friend who works with navigation of the ship, and she said security is loosened up for our stay here. Hell, they're bringing their own friends on board. And half of the people on the carrier are looking around the planet on their own; they need to be kept busy. Not me." She shook her head. "I've been busy enough to last a lifetime."

"I guess a break will be nice, though I still hardly consider it a break." the Captain complained. Eddie tried to cheer her up.

"Aw, come on. Listen to Rena. You'll be able to relax, while I do my best to not be impatient about waiting until March." Veronica's mouth twisted into a smile, and she let the Gunny put his hand in hers.

We stood there for a while, just talking. I knew that I was still going to be working a little; Leia had done alright without me. She had been a freelance musician before we met. But I still wanted to help, and maybe get a little more money saved up for something special. Like a place on Earth, or at least money a for trip there. But I didn't doubt that Leia would like it, and I was content. But, as I would find out later, I would need to count each moment of happiness that I could.

Things were about to get complicated.


	6. Dreams And Nightmares

Because of the In Amber Clad

Chapter 6

By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

The squad, with me and Leia, had gone to her place and listened to music. The best part about it was that they liked the music we played. Like I said, Leia didn't enjoy singing in front of guests. But for them, she did. I knew that she approved of it, accepting them as our family. I was so happy, even if I knew we would only be on Luna for a couple weeks.

Not everything was good, though. Me and the squad had gone to Okinawa plaza almost every day to watch the UNSC news. The way it sounded, the war wasn't as over as we would like to believe. The Covenant were fighting each other, Elites versus the Loyalists. Most of the Covenant still hadn't accepted the truth, that there was no Great Journey. That, as Mickey put, it was all bullshit. And now that Humanity was allied with the Elites, we were liable to be attacked. And Earth would be the first target.

There were always interviews on TV of people in the higher commands of the military. Each one claimed that there was nothing to come of the rumors, that the war was really over. We believed them. It was hard to think that it wasn't. And even those that could didn't want to consider it. But we had all heard the way they talked before; when they were, usually, lying.

Dutch had been nervous the past few days about Gretchen being pregnant and basically alone on Earth. He wasn't one to be over-protective, or nervous at all. But he started acting funny ever since her saw the interviews. Watching the news each day didn't help. I could see his face drop, and eyes narrow, every day that we went to the plaza. And with every day's passing, he seemed paler and more tired. By a few days time he had huge, dark circles under his eyes from obvious lack of sleep.

Everyone else saw it, but assumed it was just all the partying that had been going on. He still hadn't told them about Gretchen; I suppose it was because he was worried to the point of paranoia, like he might jinx it. Leia would occasionally nudge me, motioning for me to talk with him, but I knew it would do no good. When Dutch made up his mind, he made up his mind.

But then that night came. We were all sleeping in our quarters, on board the carrier. Leia had had a late gig in Okinawa plaza, and planned to come later on in the night.

It was around 12 PM, and everyone was asleep. The past few days had been nothing but celebration on the ship, but there was always a time in the celebrating that people chose to rest, before going out the next day. I had been sleeping peacefully the past few nights. I always liked to sleep; it gave me more energy, more strength. I always hated it when I only got about 4 hours in bed, and I felt horrible the next day. But this night was different. It was a warning to all of us of the effect war can have on people.

I wasn't having any dreams. It was quiet, and the stars were unusually bright, shining through a small window in our rooms. We thought it would be nice that night, as always.

But I was awaken by a sudden scream in the out hallway. My awakening was immediate, and I felt the oncoming of a headache as soon as I shot up.

I stopped to listen, hearing someone in the room next to mine ram against the wall, and I assumed it was Romeo waking up, too. I listened intently, then heard another scream in a room on the other side of the quarters.

Each squad had an area for sleeping, which quarters in a situated in a small circle, enclosed around a tiny area for each trooper to go into their room. The only people that came into our quarters who weren't in the squad were Leia and Rena, and my thoughts flew to one of them. I couldn't tell who it was, if it was male or female. But the only thing on my mind right then, was the fact that Leia was supposed to be coming around this exact time.

I jumped out of my bed, and shot towards the door. It opened automatically, and I came out the same time that Mickey did. He was on guard, turning in each direction. He made eye contact, and ran over.

"Did you hear that?" I nodded in reply. He sighed, still nervous. "I thought I was imagining things. Do you know who it was? I-"

"What the hell is going on?" Romeo had come out of his room, and was carrying a pistol with him. "I heard someone screaming, and I thou-"

The same cry was heard, and we could now tell it was definitely male. Mickey snapped his head towards Dutch's room, and my eyes were on it, too.

"Dutch." Romeo lowered his pistol, and ran towards Dutch's room. Mickey went after, and I followed as the Gunny walked out of his room. The Captain, unsurprisingly, came behind him. She had his combat knife in her hand.

The door opened, and Romeo ran in. I followed suit alongside Mickey, and we saw that Dutch was half-asleep, twisting and writhing in his bed.

"Dutch!" Romeo tried to wake him up. "Dutch, wake up, your dre-"

"ARGH!" Dutch flew into an upright position, and backed into the corner on his bed; Romeo had jumped back, and Mickey was practically hissing the situation to the Gunny.

I stepped forward, and when Dutch saw me, he backed even farther up against the wall. His face had a look of horror; his eyes were wide, and sweat was pouring down his face. I don't think I had ever seen him so scared.

"Dutch?" Romeo came forward, and Dutch's eyes darted to him. "Dutch, calm down. You were dreaming, man. It's alright, it was just ... just a dream."

He said this with calm in his voice, and Dutch slowly went from half-crazed to realizing where he was. He gasped for air, and closed his eyes, sliding back down onto his bed. His face was red, and he needed oxygen.

Once we knew he wasn't on defense, everyone moved at once. Romeo was telling him to lay back down, and Mickey moved more into the room, grabbing me by the shirt and pulling me with him. I turned, putting my hand out, questioning the action. He nodded towards the front of the door, where Gunny and the Captain moved in quickly.

"Dutch, just calm down." Romeo had picked his pistol back up, and shoved it in the pocket of his sweatpants. "Everythings alright."

"Would you quit telling me to calm down?" Dutch breathed. His eyes were still shut, and eyebrows knitted together. His breathing was slow and hard, and he was leaning against the wall.

"Dutch ..." The Gunny crouched next to his bed. "What happened? It was a dream, right?"

Dutch opened his eyes, and I noticed that his face had gotten even redder. Like he was holding something in, waiting for it to burst out.

But he held it in. "Nothing, Gunny. Just a bad one. Nothing to be flipping shit about."

The Captain looked apprehensive, and obviously wanted a better answer than Gunny did. "That's why we were upset. You were flipping shit." She slowly and discreetly handed the Gunny back his combat knife, who slipped it under his knee. She held her look on Dutch. "What was it about?"

Dutch just shook his head, hanging it down.

"Come on man," Romeo said. "tell us. You look like you're about to explode, you look scary. What was it?"

"I told you Romeo, it was nothing!" Dutch sounded more than a little irritated, and Romeo looked like he wanted to spit something back out. But he didn't say anything, and was about to get up. But Gunny motioned for him to sit back down, to which he, begrudgingly, did so.

"Dutch, come on. It's not anything we'll hold against ya. We've all gotten bad dreams, gotten scared. You know that."

Dutch looked at the Gunny. He had stopped breathing as hard, and turned to Romeo. He swallowed, and his eyes moved back and forth. I could tell he wanted to just spit it out. But part of him looked like he would be spitting venom if he did. As if saying it would make him see the dream all over again.

He swallowed again, and opened his mouth to speak. I could hear a slight, just slight, crack in his voice. "It was about Gretchen, and the landmine."

Romeo stopped moving for a second. Then a knowing look spread across his face.

He sighed, and put his hand on Dutch's shoulder. Gunny's head slung down momentarily, and then snapped back up.

"You wanna tell us about it?" The Captain came over to sit next to Gunny, showing support. Mickey quietly walked over to stand next to me, to in the group.

Dutch took a good look at all of us, almost daring us to show we didn't really want to hear it. But we did, and we all stood our ground. He's mouth twisted in a funny way, but he's eyes weren't as narrowed. They went back to how he usually had them, how Dutch usually was. He took a deep breath, and began.

"We were fighting, shooting our enemies. Gretchen was laughing like she used to, before this fight. It was going good, until the I saw her stepping on the landmine." He swallowed, and started again.

"I've been dreaming this the past few nights, but it hasn't been as bad as now." He looked at Romeo. "She stepped on the landmine, like we saw her, but her leg didn't get blown off, Romeo. She ... she ..."

He coughed out, and hung his head low. The Captain and Gunny shared a look, and she took Dutch's hand. She only grabbed a small part of it, and I doubt anyone but me and Romeo noticed. Dutch gave her the best look of gratitude he could then, and continued to cough.

"It killed her. I dreamed that she was ... _everywhere_." He's coughs increased noticeably, and Romeo's grip on his shoulder tightened to hold Dutch steady. "It was ten times worse then before. Her leg was in one place, her arm in another ... her head rolled toward me, and I just ... I lost it. I couldn't move, it was like I was just frozen there. I started to yell, and her head even screamed back, for Christ's sakes."

His face was starting to go from bright red to sickly pale. "And there was ... someone else screaming ..."

Romeo had a perplexed look to his face, and nudged Dutch's shoulder. "Who? One of us?"

"No." Dutch's voice crackled. "It's ... it's something I haven't told you guys."

I sighed, and Dutch looked towards me. He smirked, but not in his usual way. It was disturbing.

"Only Rookie here knew, and that's because he heard me talking to Gretchen, the day the war ended. I knew he'd keep his trap shut. But it's what I've been upset about. Why I'm so worried about her."

Romeo stared, waiting for Dutch to finish. Dutch had stopped coughing as much, making it somewhat easier to talk.

"Gretchen is pregnant. Shes gonna have a kid. My kid."

No one spoke. The room was quiet. Then Mickey came forward.

"But that's good news, Dutch!" He smiled, weakly. "You're gonna be a dad! Aren't you ... happy?"

"Of course I am, you idiot!" Dutch was irritated. "But you've heard what they're saying, on that mega-screen in Okinawa plaza. The Covenant are still at war with each other, and they know we're allies. They know where Earth is now, too. They know where Gretch is. And even the UNSC is saying that Earth isn't the safest now; they're saying it could be the most dangerous. No one knows where to go, people are moving back and forth from Earth to Luna. I'm not happy when I don't know a thing about what's going to happen. I'm not happy when someone tells me it's over, and then come right back saying it's gonna restart. And I'm certainly not happy when my wife and would-be kid are dead and screaming in my damn dream!"

He still looked pale, and no one was talking. Not all of knew how he felt. But I know that the Gunny did. And I know I did.

The rest of the room was quiet, not knowing how to respond to Dutch's outburst. It was so unlike him to react this way; not the tone, but just ... the feeling. Mickey was surprised, and Dutch was visibly disturbed, too. Whether it was by the dream or self-awareness, I'm not sure.

Romeo was staring, his face contorted in an odd shape. He seemed sad, almost. "Why didn't you tell me?"

Dutch's demeanor was still a dark one, but he looked apologetically at Romeo.

"I was afraid it was too good to be true, you know?" Dutch shivered from the moon's never-ending night chill. "I thought I might lose my kid. I almost lost Gretchen; I never thought I'd have kids. And it's not even here yet, really."

Mickey hung his head in a sort of shame, maybe at having unintentionally implied that Dutch was unhappy. "Sorry, Dutch. I just didn't get it, that's all. We know you would be happy."

"Yeah," Romeo added. "which is why we would've wanted to be happy with you! So don't get jumpy about it, alright?"

The normal Dutch would've smiled. He would've gotten right back to what he was doing, and tried to look on the bright side. But he just nodded, like he didn't really believe any of the words that were coming out of our mouths, and let go of the Captain's hand. Gunny took his knife from underneath his knee, and gave it back to Veronica, knowing the worst was over tonight, and stood up. He leaned against the cabinet across from Dutch's bed.

"So, do you know what it is?" Dutch gave Eddie a confused look, to which he rolled his eyes.

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Oh ... I don't know." Dutch coughed, for the last time. "Gretchen wanted to tell me when I saw her again."

"How far along is she?" The Captain asked.

"About 5 months now." Dutch chuckled for the first time that night. It still wasn't his normal laugh though. "She said she went through hell in the first couple, vomiting every minute. Annoyed the crap out of her."

Everyone chuckled, but there was still a strange mood in the air. It had changed from the previous days' joy, to something that no one really wanted to think about. It was very quiet.

Then the silence was interrupted by a _'click, clack'_ of heels. The door to Dutch's room was still opened; in a few moments, Leia appeared in front of it.

Her hair was in a knotted mess, and she had her guitar strapped to her back. She smelled of metal and sweat. She peered into the room, confused. She turned to me, and I nodded towards Dutch. When she saw him, and the state he was recovering from, her eyes widened.

"You alright?" She looked cautious. "You look as sick as a dog."

"I feel it." Dutch murmured. "But I'm alright. I just had a shitty dream, and woke up without knowing it was a _just _a shitty dream."

He stated this in an oddly non-chalant manner, Leia continued to stare with anxiety in her eyes. I walked over, and whispered in her ear.

"I'll tell you in a minute. Just wait up in my room, ok? It's long, and a little complicated."

Now one else heard me, and if they hadn't known any better they would've though I was merely brushing my lips passed her ear. But they knew I was quiet even when I spoke.

Leia pursed her lips, but complied. She backed out of the entryway, and walked in the other direction.

Once we heard her close the door to my room, Dutch sighed. "Phew, Rookie, you're girl worries too much. Really." But his mouth was twisting into an actual smile now, and even Romeo smirked. "But she's alright. She's got some good mental armor in that head of hers. Wouldn't do bad as an ODST."

The squad murmured in agreement, and I felt my throat go dry. I shuddered at the thought of her dropping into the atmosphere, and shook my head back in forth.

I didn't see the humor in it, but Veronica chuckled. "It's alright Rookie, she's not going to join up tomorrow."

"And people are telling me to be calm ..." Dutch mumbled.

I still had the image of her being in a drop pod, and it made me want to be near her all of a sudden. I shook it off though, and everyone started to get up.

"Well, I wanna get some sleep. Have barely had any all night." He grinned towards Veronica, who pushed him forward, hard. This garnered a loud _'ow'_ from the Gunny.

"Maybe if you could keep your mouth shut you would ..." Veronica stated.

"Why don't you just say the reason out right ... "Mickey mumbled, in partial disgust. Romeo, who might have made a comment on the situation, simply followed behind. His face was downcast, and for once, he seemed unsure. Dutch simply waited for us to walk out of the room. He wanted to be alone.

I went into my room, and Leia turned to me, immediately asking what went wrong. I explained everything to her; the dream, the possible pregnancy complications, the UNSC news. She was sitting on my bed, and would listen intently on everything I said. I noticed a few moments where she would become nervous, or bite her lip, but she kept on listening.

When I finished, she blew out a breath of oxygen, and got up off the bed.

"It's good that he told the squad, finally. He's been acting strange for days, you know that." I nodded, showing that I wasn't disagreeing. She began to shed her clothes, and drop them on the floor in a pile. She moved to the shower, and I leaned back in my bed at the shower turned on.

It took her a few minutes, and she came back. She grabbed her extra clothes that she kept in my small closet and changed, then rolled onto the bed, laying next to me.

"Do you think Dutch will be ok?" She wondered aloud. I shrugged, and tapped my wrist. She sighed contentedly, and closed her eyes.

"Maybe you're right. Only time will tell." It only took her a couple minutes to fall fast asleep; the concert would've worn her out.

I fell asleep quickly after, reminding me of the night of our reunion, just a couple days ago. It never took long for me to fall asleep, but I stayed up momentarily to think.

I was concerned for Dutch, obviously. But the news ate away at my mind now too. It was entirely possible that the Loyalists would come back to Earth. And if they did, the war would indeed restart, as Dutch had pointed out. The possibility made my breathing halt temporarily.

I didn't want to go back to hell. None of us did. We wanted a break from being dropped, and shot at. We would probably always be ODSTS; and if not, we would certainly never forget what it was like. But we wanted to stop being scared. Scared for us, our squadmates, our families. And we thought it was over. We thought we were done, at least for awhile.

But the more I thought about it, the more possible it seemed. And for the first time in awhile, I was afraid. The end had began, but a lot of things were going to happen in the middle before I was able to finally rest. Or before my squad would be able to, too.

At that moment, I rubbed my nose in Leia's hair. It gave me comfort, something to remember. Something good to dream of.


	7. Still An ODST

Because of the In Amber Clad

Chapter 7

By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

The next day wasn't necessarily good or bad; just different. It was a relaxing day, or at least half of it. The afternoon was; the morning was anything but relaxing.

When I woke up, Leia wasn't next to me in bed. She was sitting next to the closet, in a small corner big enough for two people. Her legs were drawn up to her chest, and she had put her hair in two separate braids for the day.

She was looking out the window, at the ever-present night sky. She always liked to look at the stars; she said they gave her inspiration, especially for music. It was funny to watch her face while she gazed out to the sky. Her normally big eyes would glaze over, making someone think she was deaf to the world. Even if she wasn't.

After turning around in my bed a bit, I got up and looked in the mirror over my bed; my eyes had dark circles under them, and I needed to shave. But I still looked like me. Couldn't say that for Dutch.

I turned back to Leia, and she was still staring out the window. It was small, but gave a good view. I went over and sat next to her. I looked out for a few moments, then turned back to her. She noticed.

"You can see the stars on Earth, right?" She turned to me, her eyes bright. "I know it sounds stupid. The answer is obvious. But I need to know from someone who's been there recently, just to be sure."

I nodded, and motioned across the sky with my hands. Then I clapped them together.

"You can see that many?" She asked. I had meant that there were times when they covered the night sky. "It sounds ... beautiful." She turned back to the window, but continued to talk.

"I've never left Luna, you know. It's always been my home. But I've always wondered. About Earth. What it's like to feel the warmth of the sun on your skin. Yuna's mom said that the rain is like a shower. But the water feels different; smooth, and almost prickles your skin."

I nodded in agreement; I had felt it for myself. I hadn't been really able to enjoy it in ODST armor, but it had been nice anyway. Leia sighed, and looked to me.

"I want to see it. I always knew I would move away from this place eventually. I'm a little happy to get out." But as she said this, her eyes were looking down at the floor. I knew why, of course. I held her hand, and tightened it. Asking something.

"I'll tie up the loose ends before going, Rookie. I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye to them." But she seemed like she didn't believe what she was saying. Obviously wanting to discontinue this line of conversation, she stood up and walked to the door. She was already dressed, and ready to go.

"The squad's outside." She informed me. "Dutch left earlier. Romeo figured he wanted to be alone, but ..." Her voice trailed off on the obvious. Everyone was concerned.

"I'll be out there with them, ok?" She looked at me for a moment, then walked out the door.

I sighed, and got up to get dressed. My mind wouldn't let go of last night.

It wasn't like Dutch to have nightmares. And it certainly wasn't like Dutch to go off by himself. But everyone had a weakness of some sort, and his was his wife.

I washed my face, and thought about the situation. He wasn't one to be easily paranoid, that much I knew. And he had just been a little worried about her to begin with. But to be having nightmares, getting defensive, withdrawing. It wasn't him at all. He would only get that way if he really believed what they were saying on TV.

We had all watched the same thing, but Dutch seemed to believe that it was impossible for things to stay peaceful. The rest of us were able to let it go, and maybe it was because we didn't want to consider the possibility of the rumors being true. Dutch was never one to avoid the truth, though. And it was always possible that he was just accepting one truth faster than we could.

But I didn't let myself think about it. I simply put on some clothes, and walked back out the the quarters.

The Gunny was leaned up against a nearby wall, with Veronica sitting against the one next to it. Romeo was standing over one of the chairs while Mickey was simply sitting down. Leia had gone in a nearby corner. Sufficiently detached, but still connected.

"Hey Rookie," Gunny stood straight up, now that I had come. "we were waiting for you to wake up."

I looked at him, and he didn't look happy. He looked a little nervous, actually.

"Dutch left early this morning." The Captain said. "And no one knows where he went. We're concerned."

"_You're_ concerned." Romeo scoffed. "I'm fine. Dutch can go off by himself if he wants to. He's not a kid."

"Did you not see him last night?" Mickey turned towards Romeo. "He was a wreck. He wasn't Dutch at all."

"I know, Mickey, I was there. But he probably just wants some time alone, that's all. I don't know why all of you are worried anyway."

"Because Mickey is right." Gunny pointed out. "Dutch wasn't himself. And we know why. We should be there for him."

"Why, because he's our friend?" Romeo chuckled darkly. "If he was such a friend, he would've told us about Gretch earlier, don't you think?"

I saw Leia bite her lip, in what was restraining herself from speaking. She certainly had a different opinion. I gave her a look, wondering why she didn't voice it. But she shook her head back and forth. She didn't find it her place to speak.

"Well, maybe I give a damn about my team. Excuse me for caring a little." The Gunny glared at Romeo. "You're his friend, Romeo. Everyone knows that. You've been in squads together half the war, and now that it's over, you're going just going to pretend you don't know him."

"I'm not." Romeo was irritated. "I would go look for him if I think it would do any good. But I don't think it will, Gunny. Talking to him always doesn't work that well."

"It helped last night, didn't it?" The Captain was finally speaking up. Romeo snorted.

"Yeah, Captain. It really worked. We just cut short one dream, and now he get's to wait 'til tonight so he can have another. Good job." The Captain's eyes narrowed, and looked like she was about to say something else. But Leia came into the conversation.

"Maybe we could talk to him, just a little, Romeo." she suggested. "I know you don't think it would help, but trust me. It would. You're his friends, it not horrible to want to help. And if he doesn't want to talk about it, then we'll move onto something else."

Romeo looked a little unsure at her suggestion, but he shrugged.

"I guess you could try it. I'm just saying, it probably won't work."

"It's worth that try." Gunny stated. "Anything to get Dutch back to normal."

Romeo shrugged again, and got up, walking towards the door. "Well, if we're gonna go look for him, we gotta figure out where to start."

As he was about to open the door, it was softly knocked on. He opened it to find Rena stumbling in.

"Hey, Romeo." She gave him a kiss on the check, and put her hand on his shoulder. "I heard about Dutch. Did you guys know he left?"

Romeo shook his head, causing Rena to look around at the rest of the squad. Her lips pursed, and she sighed. Like she was trying to consider telling us something. She made a choice, tightening her grip on Romeo's shoulder.

"Well ... I did see someone about Dutch's size earlier this morning. I was walking around the tubeways, bored out of my mind. Then I was someone else going to the plaza, next to a group of others. He was the same height, and looked like Dutch. I just didn't really pay attention, you know; I figured he was just going out to be out."

Romeo turned to look at the Gunny, but Buck went forward to Rena.

"Where did he go?" Rena thought for a couple moments.

"If he went left of the tube ..." She murmured for a few moments before remembering. " ... oh! He would've been going to Okinawa plaza, I'm guessing. I was a little surprised. You guys usually travel around together. Plus the fact that he had these huge circles under his eyes. Looked a little weird, actually."

"Yeah, we know ..." Mickey mumbled. This drew a confused look from Rena, and she immediately turned back to Romeo. He groaned, and quickly explained the previous night to Rena. Her face went to that of confusion to more worry, her eyes growing big. When he finished, her head went back and forth and she volunteered to help.

"Poor Dutch." She lamented. "That's horrible. Has it happened before?"

Romeo nodded, sighing. "From what it seems like, yeah. The past couple nights."

Rena's eyebrows went down. "I never would've guessed it ..." She shook her head. "So, Gretchen is pregnant, huh? When did he have time to go see her?"

"Probably that weekend pass he got back in August. He said her surgery was in July, and the UNSC moved her and other medical patients to Mars temporarily; I don't know why. But anyway, he went to see Gretchen for a couple days. No one except me knew he had gone, since he was supposed to be on a carrier. But I just told everyone he stayed in his room all day, and he got on a ship that was gonna be meeting up with the carrier a few days after later."

Rena looked at him in disbelief. Romeo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know, it was a bad idea that barely worked, but it worked, alright? As far-fetched as it seems, it did. The last time he officially went to Earth was before Ariel. Officially." Rena gave a short nod. She wasn't going to go off shouting it to the world.

"Well, I'll meet you in the plaza, alright?" She removed her hand from his shoulder, and walked out the door. Romeo followed a few moments after.

The Gunny sighed, while the Captain was still sitting against the wall. Her eyes were closed and she was rubbing her forehead. She was trying to process the information. Mickey got up, and huffed.

"Well, we might as well get going. It's not like we're gonna find him sitting around here." He walked towards the door, and called over his shoulder. "You guys coming?"

Veronica stopped rubbing her forehead, and slowly got up on her feet. "I am."

"Gunny?" Buck took a breath, then walked over to Mickey's voice. Leia came out of her corner, and went behind them. I followed.

Because of the vast area that was Okinawa Plaza, it took us a while to look around. We didn't bother splitting up when we saw the magnitude of people in the plaza that day; all there to watch the mega-screens too. Most were still celebrating, though it had toned-down a bit. That itself was something I didn't mind, seeing at how loud it had been the past few days. But there were a lot of people gathered around the mega-screens, and I heard Romeo almost snarl in disgust. We didn't want to watch LCNS any time soon.

We would've been running blind the whole day, if we hadn't been flagged down by a friend.

"Mickey!" A loud, female voice called from across the street. We had been looking in the large mega-screen group, expecting to find him there. Now that I wasn't the only one who had noticed his seeming addiction to the screens, it was much easier to look around. But the voice distracted us, and we found it was a good thing.

"Mickey, get over here!" It was the owner of the Korean restaurant, Mal-bok. Yuna's mom. She was usually running around the restaurant, taking care of what ever needed taking care of. From what I'd seen, she had a short-fuse.

"Who the hell is that?" Romeo muttered.

"Mal-bok." Mickey groaned. Then, breathing, he stood up straight to look for Mal-bok.

"What is it?" Mickey yelled back.

"Just get over here, and bring the Gunny-Sergeant with you!"

Mickey turned back to the Gunny, who looked as perplexed as the rest of us. We did as she asked though, and within minutes were were in the restaurant.

I always liked being in this restaurant. The architecture was sort of like a garden style, where there was an outdoor section below, a balcony looking over the inside, and an extension of the balcony to the outside. Where Mickey had infamously toppled over the edge. That was probably the part he liked the least.

She tried to hurry us inside, though to me it felt more like shoving us in. When we looked at her, she wasn't necessarily angry. More like a little perturbed.

"If you guys' ODST" Her accent gave way to some odd grammar and mispronunciations. She was pointing at all of us. "is going to come here and order nothing but cheongju, starting at opening time, tell me!"

I was a little confused, and so were the others; her grammar was hard to follow. It also wasn't exactly good for listening when 7 people where standing in the way of the door, and customers almost angrily voiced their complaints on this. We shuffled back into the wall next to the bar. After a couple seconds though, Rena got it.

"Dutch is here?" She asked, dumbfounded. This was the last place we had expected him to be.

"Yes!" Mal-bok shouted, making Mickey jump next to me; I'm sure he had had the pleasure at being yelled at by Mal-bok before. I thought of his incident with the Laferns, and I almost laughed out loud.

"He come here, drinking all my cheongju since 6 AM! We have enough, but today, all ODST come in, wanting alcohol!"

The Gunny came forward now, putting his hand out in front of him in defense. "Wait, what? How many ODSTS are here?"

She dropped her hands to her sides in exasperation, then swung it out in front of her towards the bar. The Captain took a look, and murmured something. "Woah ..."

We turned around only to find numerous ODSTS, and quite a few Air Force, drinking at the bar. And if they weren't at the bar, they were sitting at the tables around them. Half of the people in that area were significantly drunk, but for once weren't making a huge celebration of it. It was quiet in here, and loud out in the plaza.

"What the hell are they all doing here?"Mickey asked, his voice a little higher pitched than usually. "This is a quarter of the people on our ship!"

"I sell low-level alcohol, good alcohol. You know it's good, you drink half of it when you were here with your family." She informed Mickey, who didn't comment on the amount he had drank; it wasn't a small amount by any means. I know; I paid the bill. "Most of your ODST and other people don't get drunk to easily, and they know this. So they just drink up all my small stuff. Unfortunately, also my fast-selling stuff. Half of them don't pay me yet because they just want to sit there, like idiots. I can deal with them; I don't know them, I don't care."

"That's a great motto to have." The Captain said, beneath her breath. Mal-Bok caught it anyway.

"Is!" She agreed. "But I know Dutch. He come in, seem weird. Still like Dutch, but something wrong. I don't ask questions. Some people just like to be alone."

"See?" Romeo told the Gunny. But Mal-Bok looked at him, her eyes narrowing.

"But you his friends!" Romeo was visibly irritated by her voice, but had no time to talk back to her.

"You should go, talk to him! He only listen to you now anyway. He don't know anyone else here; he only talk to Yuna, and that only for a few seconds, to say he's fine when she ask what wrong. Like I said," she hissed. "Dutch is Dutch today. He smile and act like Dutch. But Dutch is also _not_ Dutch today. That's why I call you in here, to go make him Dutch."

"We can't make him happy." The Captain said. But Mal-Bok shook her head.

"You can. Just try. At least get him to stop drinking my cheongju. He not drunk, so stop man while he's ahead!" She simply ended by pointing in his direction, and then running into the back at Yuna's call.

The team stood there, in the corner, just still. We had now been ordered to go and talk to Dutch, but none of really knew what we would say.

"Well," The Captain said. "if we're going to talk to him, we should have a plan."

I stepped in front of her, and shook my head. It wasn't a good idea.

If Mal-Bok was right, and he would listen to us, then I knew that we shouldn't go in as if it were an intervention. He had had a bad dream, a horrible dream, but we all had those. Which was why it would be better if we thought of how they made us feel when we were talking with him, completely natural. Not planned.

The Captain looked annoyed. "Why?" I looked towards Leia, and I didn't even need to tell her; she was already talking to the Captain before I could ask.

She explained the thought process, but she was speaking for her. I wasn't going to ask her to speak for me; just see if anyone else agreed. The Captain eyes went from frustrated to understanding, and she nodded in agreement. "Alright then."

We all went over to Dutch's table, and he saw us immediately. He didn't looked to surprised though. And I caught something in his face, something that made me knew the conversation would go well.

Before we had approached the table, his eyes had slightly downcast. But not like last night. It was almost as if he had evened out a little, mood-wise. And when he saw us, he didn't smile like usual, like Mal-bok said. But I saw his eyes brighten. They were like how they usually were. Which meant Dutch probably wasn't far from himself either.

"Hey Dutch." The Gunny slid into a seat in front of Dutch, with the Captain to Gunny's right. Me and Leia sat next to the Captain, while Romeo sat next to Dutch. Rena was to Romeo left, and Mickey took the sit next to her.

Dutch sighed, but I saw him smile. He leaned back in his chair, having a look of what almost seemed like defeat. "Hey Gunny. Mal-bok give you a hard time?"

"You could say that." The Captain replied. Dutch nodded, and looked down at his cup.

"I assume she wants me to not drink her cheongju."

"That would be nice."

Yuna had come around the corner, holding a piece of paper. She raised an eyebrow at the number of us, though it was nothing new. We were here a lot.

"Here's your bill, Dutch. I cut it down a little bit, just today." She crossed her arms, waiting for a good response. Dutch snorted.

"Thanks Yuna. Nice to know you like me that much." Dutch's voice sounded was sounding more like him by the moment.

"Nah, just want you to make up the money in tips. If you don't mind." Yuna smiled, and then looked at everyone else.

"Hey guys. None of you are going to order cheongju, are you?"

Dutch snickered, and Yuna went over to sit next to Leia. "Now I may be intruding here, but I do want to know why Dutch is pissing off my mom this early in the morning. Do you mind?"

Dutch shook his head. "No. Not at all."

She nodded, and then waited for someone to explain. We all glanced around, wondering if Dutch would start or we should. Yuna grew impatient.

"Well? You gonna fill me in, anyone?'

Normally, it would've been a little out of place to for someone to have acted in the way Yuna did. But I had known her for awhile, and Mickey longer. He explained to me her personality, and the rest I figured out on my own.

She wasn't rude, just very straightforward. She couldn't keep her mouth shut long enough to be a Marine, but she didn't open it without thinking. It was like her brain though in synchronization with her mouth, and she always had something intelligent to say. She was inquisitive, but not nosy. She knew when to stop. But she didn't bother arguing with people over opinions; she would simply state hers for the public to know, and be done with it.

As to looks, she was obviously Korean; her hair was a shiny black and it was short cut to her ears, very thick. She thick bangs that covered her forehead, but not her eyes. She was very tall for a woman; stood at 6'0, the same as Mickey. She had a thin build, with little muscle. But what her strength didn't give, her mouth made up for. She clever; she and Romeo had had a go at it more than a few times

But now she was wanting to help. She was usually in the know; she wasn't part of our group necessarily, but more like an outside force, helping the in. She stared at Dutch, still a little annoyed. He noticed this, and began to explain.

"You know all that stuff they've been saying about Earth?" He asked. Yuna quickly nodded her head; she watched the news all the time.

"Yeah, about there being another war soon, or something. That's why half these people are in her," she jabbed her finger behind her. "and half those people are out there." She jabbed it back to the outside window. "You don't believe it, do you?"

Dutch shrugged. "I listened to them Yuna. You know how hard it is not to." She bit her lip at his correct statement. "They're saying all that shit after the war ends. It hasn't even been a straight week yet. The war was declared over on Wednesday, and it only takes them two days to start the chatter up."

"Hell, I marked it on a piece a paper I got back there, I know." Yuna said. "December 23rd."

"Yeah. And now they're saying that it's gonna start all over again. There are still 'hostilities' apparently."

"And they know the Slipspace coordinates to Earth." Veronica pointed out. This fact made Dutch frown.

Yuna looked back and forth between the two. "What? Why is that bad? They probably won't come you know. The Covenant. It's just news anchors wanting something to talk about."

The squad was quiet, not answering her. Rena leaned forward on the table to look at Yuna.

"Yuna, the Covenant would take the chance. Our defense aren't up."

"Alright, alright." Yuna raised her hands in defense. "Maybe they'll go to Earth. So what? UNSC will be able to take care of it,won't they?"

"It's not that simple, Yuna." Romeo snarled. Yuna didn't expect the tone, and she got pissed. But Rena put her hand in front of Yuna, distracting her. Then she explained.

"Dutch's wife is on Earth, Yuna. And she's pregnant."

Yuna stared at Rena for a few moments. Then she leaned back, understanding.

"Oohhh ..." she whispered. I watched as she frowned. She glanced at Romeo. "Sorry. I just ... sorry about that."

"Yeah." Romeo murmured. Yuna was still frowning, and put her hand on the table in front of Dutch.

"Dutch, don't worry about it, alright? You'll be there in a week or so, and she'll be fine."

Dutch shrugged, but smiled weakly. He handed Yuna his glass of cheongju, and some money for the bill.

"I'll be fine. I just need more sleep that's all."

Yuna grinned. Her grin always made her look like she was up to something, but this time it was in confidence.

"See?" She said, a little smugly to the squad. "One minute around me, and you guys are already getting back to normal!"

She turned around and walked off to the bar, where her mother had been watching us intently. I wouldn't have been surprised if she sent Yuna over here.

The squad chuckled at her attitude, but Dutch was still serious. That was alright, since he always was. Romeo looked at him with disbelief.

"You really think more sleep is gonna make the news go away?" Romeo scoffed. No one responded to this either.

"Hah, no." Dutch snorted. "I was hoping I would hear good news when I came down here, but ... I heard news. Actually," he shrugged his eyebrows. "I heard some news about Navy Intel."

"Navy?" Mickey asked, surprised. "What are they doing talking about the Navy?"

"Apparently Naval Intelligence-" Dutch paused to think on what he was saying. "well, the UNSC in general, but the Navy announced it- have some loose ends to tie up. About Earth."

"You mean more fighting?" Romeo asked. Dutch nodded his head back and forth slowly. Romeo was speechless, and when he got his words back, turned to the Captain.

"What the hell are they talking about?" He hissed. We all turned to the Captain, who looked cornered.

"Veronica?" She turned to the Gunny voice. "What's going on?"

"I- a- God!" she stuttered. "It's nothing! Don't look at me like that guys! They just need to make sure that a few places on Earth are well clean of all Covenant, that's all!" She saw the looks of disbelief, and she herself became frustrated.

"I said to not look at me like that! I'm telling the truth, there is no '_restart to the war'_," she scoffed. "and they're not even using ODSTS, let alone military at all! Just the military that's already on Earth. Alright?"

"Sounds like bullshit to me." Romeo stated.

"Too bad." The Captain hissed. "If you don't like it, then deal with it. I'm telling you guys, that's all there is to it! And if there's more, then I don't know about it!"

Half the team still weren't buying it. Her face was red with frustration, and she was turning around desperately for a good face.

I believed her though. She didn't look she was hiding something. She just looked upset. Her eyebrows were down, and her hands up in the air. She didn't _look_ like she was lying.

"I believe you." Romeo turned to Dutch. Dutch had been the one to say this. Veronica's eyes opened up more, and she gave the rest of the team a look like _'see?'_.

Romeo was about to open his mouth, but Dutch spoke first. "She's telling the truth, Romeo. Trust her, alright?"

Romeo just looked like he didn't know what to do. "Hah!" He threw his hands up in the air, and brought them to his head. "Ok. Right. Trust, right ..." He shook his head in his hands, and started to chuckle. "God, will it ever end."

Mickey shrugged. "Eventually."

"Shut up, Mickey."

It was quiet for few moments, Mickey taking Romeo's suggestion. The Gunny had been staring at Veronica, who just kept muttering the same thing to him: _'I don't know, I don't know'_. Her hands were out in front of her, below the table, trying to reason with the Gunny. He looked a little cautious, but after the moments, he took one of her hands, to her noticeable relief. He then turned to Dutch.

"You sure you're alright Dutch? It doesn't do well to worry so much."

"Gunny, I'm fine!" Dutch surprised all of us by sounding exasperated. "I've just a rough few nights, but I was fine since I told you! Jesus, what is it with you people?"

"We thought you were upset!" Rena shrieked.

"No, _you_ idiots thought he was upset. I told you, he would be fine eventually." Romeo almost looked a little smug, recovering from his brief anger with the Captain. "I hate to say I told you so ..."

"No you don't, asshole ..." Mickey groaned.

"You're right Mick. So I'll just say it: I told you so." Romeo grinned, causing Mickey to frown even more. A giggle was heard from the bar area, and it sounded like Yuna. She must've heard the conversation.

The team sat there for a few moments, bickering. Someone at some point asked Dutch why he felt better all of a sudden, and he answered.

"I gave Gretch a call earlier." He rubbed the back of his head, chuckling. "She always wakes up early; used to wake me up with her, crazy girl. We talked, and boy did she get pissed off when she heard how much I had been worrying ..."

"Pissed off?" Mickey questioned. "Why?"

"Because of the fact, one which she yelled very loudly in my ear, that she might be outta commission for awhile, but she's still an ODST." Dutch's laughter increased. "Yeah, she's still an ODST ..."

We talked a little after that, but there was something hanging in the air. Something bringing us down. It was just a guess, but I suspected it to be that very phrase that made Dutch laugh. That she was still an ODST.

Even though there were people celebrating outside, there were also people that were afraid outside. The ones watching the mega-screens, waiting to her from UNSC about the war's aftermath. And even though we were inside, there was something about the joy. Almost like it was too good to be true.

And it was. And we knew it. We were still ODSTS. And I even though I wanted to feel at home like I had the past few days, and be glad to see Leia's eyes glaze over when she saw the galaxy and it's stars, I couldn't. And that I wanted to play more of my music, but there was something off about each piece each time I played. I had been in heaven the past couple days, oblivious to the outside world. But it was starting to creep back in.

And I, especially, knew why. It was a feeling I couldn't shake, and expression I made that I couldn't place. Until I really thought about it.

I was still an ODST.


	8. Rena

Because of the In Amber Clad

Chapter 8

By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

**Rena -December 31st, 2552- 8:30 PM**

My name is Rena.

That was the first thing I said to another ODST, Romeo, when I met him. It wasn't today, on New Years' Eve. But I had just began to think about the year, in the spirit of the holiday, and I had come to think about the first time I met him. I had been arguing with someone on the carrier _The Event_, and now I don't even remember what it was about. All I know is that he had something to say about it. He always had something to say.

He called _'calm down, sweetheart'_. Promptly turning to him, I clearly remember the words that came out of my mouth.

"My name is Rena. Call me that. I'm not your sweetheart." I glared at him, expecting him to be like most guys, and simply grin, and walk away. Thinking they were the shit, and that a girl would go after them, when they were just like everyone else. But he didn't do that.

Instead he walked up to me, and looked me in the eye. "You wanna be?"

This surprised me. "No." I put my fingers to his chest, pushing him away. "But I do want you to go mind your own shit, alright?"

He shrugged. "Any way you want it, sweetheart. But I'm just saying, chill out a little."

"And I'm just saying, I told you. I'm not your sweetheart." I was irritated now. But not even because of the sweetheart comment; I had never dealt with a guy like him before. He chuckled, and turned to the person I was arguing with.

"You better give up; she's a persistent person. You won't be winning this argument, trust me." Then he was called by someone else. His Gunnery Sergeant.

"Hey Romeo, get your ass over here!" Romeo- I was tempted to laugh in his face because of this name- turned to the the Gunny Sergeant.

"I'm a little busy, Gunny!" he yelled back. I heard laughter from somewhere in the group. It was loud, and had a twinge to whoever's voice it was coming from.

"You don't look that busy, Romeo." This was called by a blonde, who was sitting next to the Sergeant. "The girl looks like she has more important things to do."

"Yeah, like practically yelling." This mumble had come from another man, who was a the same height of the other who had laughed earlier. "Romeo was right, she needs to relax."

The comment went relatively unnoticed by the rest of the group, sitting in a small corner near the stairs out of the cafeteria. I ignored it for the time being.

_Romeo_ turned to them, a mocking innocence in his voice. "Aw, she'll come around, Captain. You did for Gunny."

The blonde blushed at the comment, out of slight embarrassment. "I doubt it's the same situation in any way." She called back. Romeo chuckled.

"Probably not the same. But still," he turned back to me. "I think she likes me."

Those were words he would say in the future, when we landed on the human colony of Luna. Or you could just say the moon. Being politically correct didn't really matter for that. "Don't be so sure of yourself." I informed him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Because I think that you do like me, _Rena_." He got closer to me, and for some reason, I didn't immediately push him back. "I think you like me a lot."

"And why would you think something like that?" I asked sarcastically. He smiled at me.

"Because I'm different."

"What makes you any different?"

He chortled at the question. "Because I'm Romeo, sweetheart."

I laughed in his face. "Romeo, huh?" He nodded, sure of himself. "And why do they call you Romeo?"

"Because I happen to be real lucky with the ladies." He was still very sure of himself, not backing down.

"Ah. Ladies like me?" I planned for him to nod, and say yes. That would be a bad thing, for him, and a good reason for me to get away. But he surprised me again.

"No. Not like you, actually." My smirk disappeared, and I frowned. I let my guard down, and he knew it; his grin grew wider. "You're loud, shorter than most, and have a way with people like this gentleman right here." He pointed to the person on the other end of the argument. "So no. You're definitely not like other ladies I've met."

"You know, you're not really a ladies' man if you point out their flaws. Isn't really a turn on." I informed him.

He shrugged. "Only you said they were flaws. I never did."

To this, I froze. He stared at me for a few moments.

I had never been complimented on my height. Generally, I was pretty short, standing at 5'4; for an ODST, even more so. I had been complimented on my many things from men, but never my height. More ridiculed on it. But he had just said they weren't flaws, which could only mean good things.

I felt myself blush, and he smirked. That smirk irritated the crap out of me.

"Getting a little flushed, sweetheart?" He tried to touch my cheek, but I moved his hand away. That caught _him_ off guard, seeing as though he thought I would be an easy catch. And I knew I was acting it. That made me even more irritated.

"Only because you're a little close for comfort." I hissed. "If you don't mind, go away."

He was frowning, but not in anger. Just the same surprise I had. He stuck his lower lip out, and let out a short _'hm'_. Then he backed away. As he did, the smile reappeared.

"Alright." He turned around, heading back to his team, who looked a little impatient. I had no idea where they would be going; we were going to Luna, and we had been on this carrier for awhile. A few people had just gotten on from an ONI orbital facility in November, but it was still a while. It looked like they were in a hurry to get nowhere. Or maybe they had just become bored by the show.

"But hey," he waved his hand back, calling loudly. "I'll be around, alright Rena?"

My eyes widened a bit at the fact that he remembered my name, and said it instead of the _'sweetheart'_. He twisted his head around, still walking towards his team.

"My name is Kojo Agu. But I don't think you'll mind calling me Romeo, sooner or later." The same laughter from before came from his group, and he quickly went up to the person it was from. The group left, and the only one I hadn't heard say something so far was the one at the end standing next to the mumbler. I had briefly noticed him smirking at the scene himself, but that was it. No chuckles, no talking. Just faces.

I looked at them as I walked away, but once they left, I started to look around. The event had gone by fairly unnoticed; only seen by the man I was arguing with, and a couple friends. One of them motioned for me to come over, but I just stood there. After a minute or so, I walked out of the cafeteria, and back to my quarters.

I don't know what it was that had made me really freeze up when I saw him. For most guys I liked, I would be more than able to talk to them. I looked at myself in the mirror, and saw that my cheeks were indeed a little flushed. I quickly washed my face, trying to make it go away. And all the while I thought about that guy.

Later on, I would run into him. He would flirt, each time the same but a different way. And it was always different than the first time. After that, it always seemed just slightly more genuine. The first time had been a game; after that, he had actually been interested.

After a week or so, I wasn't against being in a relationship with Romeo at all. So I began one. I didn't go in expecting much, but I was willing to see what he was really like. And I found someone that I couldn't have liked any more.

I still didn't like him calling me sweetheart; it wasn't out of resent, but I like the way he said my name more. He said it like he meant it, whereas he called everyone sweetheart. I soon learned from his teammates that he hadn't tried some old tricks on me the first day I met him; he approached me differently. Then again, he approached everyone differently. We usually did argue, but I argued even more with him than anyone else. He would never pass up a good debate though, and I didn't really annoy him. At least not any more than he annoyed me.

I got to know his squadmates well too. Dutch, a good friend to Romeo, was the one who had laughed. He was always laughing, even though he seemed like a much more serious person when he wasn't. Romeo stated this had not always been true; there was a reason for it now. His wife was an ODST, but she was out of commission for the year; she had stepped on a landmine in combat, a little before the Battle of Ariel, and gotten her leg blown off. He said that Dutch had hurt for her, and always remembered her own pain. But he was still Dutch.

The mumbler, the person who had commented on my loud voice, was Mickey. He was a strange guy, but not a bad one. He was the youngest of the team, and he sure played the part well. He was usually putting in his two cents on anything and everything, whether people wanted or not. But he didn't do it to annoy them; he didn't really understand that sometimes, people don't wanna hear what you have to say. But he was still Mickey.

The blonde was Veronica Dare, a Navy Captain who had taken control of their squad in the Battle of Mombasa. Romeo told me the story behind that, and it took me a little while to completely follow it. But I liked Veronica; she was the only woman in the group, and still managed to be in charge. Most sexist views had disappeared, gone for centuries. At least publicly. But there were still a lot of them among the ranks. And she managed to steer past them anyway. Not in an inspirational way, just a very natural one. She was the Captain. Veronica.

The Gunny was Edward Buck, a short-tempered guy, and one of the only real veterans of the war. That made him a little depressed, I suppose. But he was usually pretty happy. Especially around Veronica; Romeo told me the story behind _them_, too. A little lengthy, but it could be considered romantic. Depends on how you look at it. But knowing the Gunny, it made me happy that it had turned out pretty good for him. It would've made anyone who knew the story feel good. It was the Gunny. Eddie.

There was the quiet one, Rookie, and he really was quiet. He barely ever spoke, ever. The only time he spoke to me was when I asked him about the group, something very detailed.. But he knew so much about them. If you think I know I lot about these people, wait until he told you about them. He wouldn't talk much; I guess he didn't feel the need to. More like he just preferred not too; it was him. But he would make motions that you might think we're harder than if he just talked. But he said so much more with each motion. It was weird. But that was Rookie.

Then there was Romeo. Romeo, the ladies' man. That fact should've told me to keep a distance from him; men like him didn't stick around long, for obvious reasons. But he surprised me again. He stuck around for quite a long time, arguing with me, laughing with me. Picking me up to kiss me since he was much taller. I felt good around him, and soon I even felt good around his team. Like a small family, in a way. I hadn't really had that in my life. I doubted it sometimes; Eddie made a comment about Romeo, at one point, thinking being a ladies' man was the one of his only true vocations. But even then, Eddie said Romeo had changed. It was hard to notice, but it was there.

"Hey, Rena?" I was taken out of my memory by Romeo's voice. I turned to see him, and he had that a smirk drawn across his face. "You coming? Or, you know, we could just leave you here."

"Don't you dare." I turned to him to give him a smirk of my own.

"Then hurry up, we gotta be there by 10:30. Yuna said that was the latest she'd save all of us a table."

I got up, and I felt my dress rustle. I smoothed it out, enjoying the feeling. It had been awhile since I had dressed formally. I missed the movement of my ODST armor, but I liked to put on a regular clothes once every now and then. Just to try to feel normal.

I looked at Romeo, who for once, looked like a gentleman. I started to snicker at the thought, and he raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He smiling now, biting on to the bait. "Do I look that bad?"

"Nah, you look nice. That's the thing I can't believe."

He opened his mouth wide. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That you usually wouldn't bother to look or act nice, even if a Grunt had a plasma charge aimed for your head."

"Like you'd fare any better." he countered. "With your voice, I'm surprised you can take out sleeper Grunts."

"It's all in the fist." I said, putting my fist out in front of me. He chuckled, and we walked down the hall passed a few other Marines. "You do look nice Romeo. I just think you're more you with a rifle and wearing anything but what you have on now. Like your ODST armor."

"Funny," he turned to me. "I was thinking something similar to that about you."

"Really?" I said, in mock surprise. "And what is that?"

"Well, personally, I like you with a M6S, and as for clothing ..." He trailed off, and I knew what he was going for.

I raised an eyebrow. But I could feel a smile coming onto my lips. I turned away from his face temporarily to hide it. "Well," I said. "maybe if you don't act like an idiot, you might be able to see the clothing you like me in best, later on tonight."

He laughed out loud now. "Trust me, I would not ruin my chances of that right now."

"Hah!" I exclaimed. "Of course not. If you did, well, then you might have to give up your name, Romeo."

We just went on like that, until we reached his quarters. I was going ahead with his squad, since my own would be in the plaza later on.

We entered the quarters, and there were a few people already out. The Rookie was sitting next to Mickey, who was jabbering on about something. But no matter how boring it sounded, Rookie was listening anyway. Dutch was sitting on the other side of Mickey, looking tortured at Mickey's jabber. I snickered at the scene, which caught the attention of all three of them.

"Hey Rena." Dutch was the first to greet me. I grinned.

"Hey Dutch." I looked at all three of them in mock surprise. "Wow, you guys look nice! Who would've thought."

"Thanks for the confidence." Mickey groaned. Rookie chuckled, and I winked at him.

"Lord knows you need the confidence boost." Eddie walked out, holding Veronica's hand; I would've thought she felt out of her zone, in a dress. But she couldn't have fit into the scene of the evening more comfortably.

"I'm really feeling the love guys." Mickey announced. Rookie responded by patting Mickey on the shoulder, nodding sarcastically. This drew a guffaw from Dutch. Veronica chuckled and turned to me.

"You look nice." she stated genuinely. I looked down, forgetting that I was wearing a dress. Thought I don't know how I would forget a thing like that, I felt so out of place in it.

"Oh, thank you! You too, you know. I just wish I could say the same for my comfort level. I'm starting to miss my ODST gear."

"Us too." Dutch related. "I think the last time I dressed like this was for my wedding."

"Same here." Romeo chortled. "But Gretch still looked way better than you Dutch. Sorry.

Dutch shrugged. "It's alright. I thought so too."

Romeo laughed, and looked around. He turned to Rookie, with a confused look. "Where's Leia, Rook? She's celebrating with us, isn't she?"

Rookie nodded his head, and pointed straight and to the left. Towards the restaurant.

"Yeah, he told you she was already there Romeo." Mickey reminded him. "Remember? She's gonna be playing the piano for a little while."

Romeo nodded at the memory, and took a look at the electronic clock above our heads. Mickey followed his gaze, noticing the time, and got up. "Well, we better get going. Yuna's gonna be pissed."

"I thought she gave us 'til 10:30. What's the hurry?" Dutch walked behind Mick and out the door, with everyone following them.

"Yuna wants us to be there, spend some time. She's been waiting on the restaurant all day just so Mal-bok would let her off on this last shift."

"Oh, so she wanted to spend some time with you, Mick?" I grinned. "I have to say, not bad taste at all Mickey. Yuna's a very pretty girl."

"Hey, it's not like that!" He was on immediate defense. "We're friends. And she wanted to talk with everyone, you know? A New Years' Eve get together sort of thing."

"We'll just be watching to see who she sits next to." Dutch chuckled. Romeo snickered, and murmured to Rookie.

"Bet you a beer she sits next to Mickey?" The Rookie thought a moment, then smiled. He clasped hands with Romeo, who grinned. "Alright then. Thanks for the heads up on your girlfriend, Mickey."

Mick groaned, discontinuing the argument. We took our time walking, and eventually everyone went off into their own conversations. The other three guys stayed in a line, and I heard Mickey start to jabber. Veronica and Eddie were linked by the hand earlier, but now he had his arm around her back. She did look very pretty tonight, but Eddie looked at her the way he always did. He always thought she looked pretty.

I turned to Romeo to find he had already been looking at me. I smiled. "Enjoying the view?" I asked, raising my eyelids.

"Well, I was. But I was actually trying to think if I had every seen you with makeup on before."

"Uh-huh." I said this through clenched teeth. "Trust me, it's not something I take great enjoyment in putting on."

He nodded, still grinning. "You look beautiful tonight."

I glanced down at my dress for what felt like the tenth time that night. It was purple, ended at my knees, and short sleeves, V-necked. It didn't feel like December on Luna, allowing for me to wear this.

"Thank you." I felt myself grin. "I'm happy you like it. It was the only dress I felt like wearing."

He raised an eyebrow. "Rena, I wasn't talking about your dress."

He surprised me again. But this time I felt a sly smile creep across my face. For once, I just raised my eyes high up to my forehead, and simply looked away. But he knew that I accepted the compliment.

It took us little while to get through the crowds amassing in the tubeways. There were so many people, more than had been the past few days near the mega-screens. They were still converging around them, though for a different reason tonight. On the screens was live action capture from the ball dropping in New York. I would've thought the tradition was way past it's time, having started in the 20th century. But I guess some things never got old, even for humans.

Once we got in though, it was much better. I heard Mal-bok quickly ushering people to tables, as always; it was a busy night, after all. There were a lot of UNSC, however they only constituted to half the people there. There were so many others, filling up every corner of the restaurant. Or so it seemed. But the number of people out in the street was worse, so I didn't pay any complaints to the amount inside.

There were multiple parties consisting of huge numbers of people, and we thankfully discovered that Yuna had indeed kept our seats. It would be 9 people, including her, and we definitely weren't the biggest group there.

She had gotten a couple tables put together to seat us, and we were located near the grand piano that they had brought out of Mal-bok's house for the holidays. You could tell it wasn't always here; this place was never fancy, by any means. But it did give a nice air to the evening, especially with Leia playing it.

As for her, my reaction was obvious. We were being seated, and I turned to see her. I was a little stunned, actually. "Wow," I murmured. "she's beautiful." Rookie heard me, and he slowly nodded his head. He was looking at her too.

She was wearing an off-white dress, and didn't have the necessary evil of heels; she had enough height. She wore some simple ballet flats. Her hair was intricately done, no doubt with someone else's help. It was braided on the square back of her head, in a sort of crown. Then there was a small piece of the braid that hung by itself, stemming out from the crown, laying straight down and reaching right below her shoulders.

But this wasn't what made her beautiful. It was the way she was playing. It was a simple jazz tune, good for New Years'. It wasn't blues It was content, playing on the relaxation and conflicting excitement for New Years'. As she played it, she did the same thing that I had seen Rookie do, when he played the piano. Or even the guitar. It was like she could feel the tone of each note, which she probably did. She moved in and out to the sound and octave, and it was mesmerizing.

As we sat down, I drew everyone's attention to this. They looked with the same awe, just on different faces.

It was cute, in an innocent sort of way, how Rookie approached her. A lot of the dinner guests were missing the scene entirely, not really enjoying the music. More like enjoying it as part of the background. But both Leia and the Rookie had given us a good taste for it; something to keep our minds off other things. When they played it separately, it was good; but together, it was even better.

She closed off on the song she was playing as we came in, and smiled as a few people complimented her playing. The Rookie was behind her, grinning at the people going by. When she finished talking, her eyes were going everywhere, looking for us. The Rookie put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to twist her head around. She had frowned, not knowing who it had been, but she flashed a bright smile when she saw him. She got up to give a kiss, and afterward we could see their mouths moving. Just couldn't hear them.

He lead her over to us, and we all greeted the both of them. She sat down to my right, since Romeo was on my left, and the Rookie sat in the same direction to her. My back was to the piano. Veronica and Eddie were across from him with Dutch on Veronica's right, and Mickey next to Dutch. Mickey was on one end, I had heard Romeo move a few people on that side around, obviously hoping for Yuna to sit next to Mickey, even though there was still a spare seat at the other end.

Mickey was the first to compliment the piano playing. "Leia, that was pretty good." he said.

"Of course it was good. It's Leia." Dutch pointed out. She laughed, thanking Dutch and turning back to Mickey.

"Thanks Mick. I'm glad you guys like it." The squad members nodded in agreement. She was happy, but changed the subject a little quickly. "So, are you guys gonna stay inside or go out to the plaza to watch the ball drop?"

"I'm staying in here. It's a nuthouse in the plaza. Wouldn't come back alive if we went out." Romeo said this looking out one of the bigger windows to the plaza, which provided a good view.

"I'm staying inside." Veronica agreed. "It won't matter where I watch, I'm still watching it. Screen is easier to see in here anyway." She was referring to the screen that was placed on a wall over the bar, easy for people to watch.

"Yeah, Yuna said they were gonna let people hang out 'til midnight, but Mal-bok is gonna shove them out afterward." Mickey informed the group.

"That's awfully kind of her." Eddie commented. Mickey shrugged.

"It's Mal-bok. And she doesn't usually let people hang around this late anyway. Only on New Years'."

"Probably because of the alcohol she keeps here." I pointed out. "It's hard to keep people away with the smell of half the stuff she keeps under the bar."

Rookie pointed to the end of the table where people would put the bill. I nodded in agreement. "She does charge a lot for it too. Guess she needs the money."

"No she doesn't!" Mickey scoffed. "She just likes to think that she's the-"

"I'd strongly advise that you not finish that sentence." Mickey turned around to be surprised by a lovely looking Yuna. She was certainly set for New Years'; she had on a good amount of makeup, and a dark blue dress. She wasn't wearing heels either, and had a pair of black tights on, making for easy movement. She took the seat next to Mickey, earning a snicker from Romeo. He discreetly placed his hand behind my back, tapping Leia.

"Hey Leia, tell you're boyfriend that he needs to buy me that beer." Leia was perplexed, but nodded, looking at Romeo oddly. After relaying the message to the Rookie, he sighed and shook his head, reaching in his pocket for money. That made me laugh a little loudly which drew some attention from Yuna.

"What?" She looked back and forth from me and Romeo. "Something on my face or something?"

I just covered my mouth, shaking my head. Dutch and Romeo were snickering, and I punched Romeo on the arm. He was making me laugh more. "Just leave it alone, Yuna," he said between chortles. "its nothing important. Not for you, anyway."

Mickey had obviously deduced we were laughing about, and was glaring at Romeo. He stopped though, and turned back to Yuna.

"Thanks for the table, Yunie." He said affectionately. "It saved us a lot of time."

"Your welcome. And yeah, I know." She said, a little smugly. "I saved you guys from the plaza, apparently. I wanna go out there later though, at midnight."

"You want to go out to that chaos?" Dutch looked at her in a little bit of shock. "It's claustrophobic out there. People crammed together. It's uncomfortable."

"Whatever." Yuna waved him off. "I can deal with it. How can you deal with drop pods but not with that crowd?"

"'Cause you're the only one in your drop pod." Eddie chuckled.

Mal-bok came over to our table, and was actually smiling, despite the restaurant being busier than ever. "Ok, so you guys no eat, right? Just sit and drink?"

"Yeah, they ate earlier, Oma." Yuna only had a slight Korean accent, almost barely noticeable. But when she spoke Korean, she sounded like she had lived there her entire life. "I already paid for them to have some dosoju. It's in the back, and the customers are asking for it."

"We don't have a lot either ..." Mal-bok sighed, but was still smiling. "Ok. I get dosoju."

She walked off, and I turned to Yuna. "Dosoju? What's that?"

"It's a Korean herbal wine, and they- traditionally- only serve it on New Years' Day. But I figured that we wouldn't get any bad luck from drinking it on the eve."

"Be careful then, Yuna." Mal-bok had come back, holding a plate of glasses for the wine in one hand, and skillfully holding two bottles in the other hand, with an extra bottle tucked under her arm. "I tell her to believe tradition," she said knowingly to Eddie. "but she pass it off. Say it old wives' tale."

"But Oma, it is." Yuna argued. "It's just wine, what bad luck can it do?"

"A lot. And bad luck act fast." Mal-bok lectured Yuna. "But you no listen, so I let you make mistake. You 23, not believe me as much as you do at 5." Mal-bok poured out the glasses, and took the plate with her. She then pulled out a piece of paper, which looked like a check.

"Here." She stuck it in front of Eddie, who slowly took it, not sure exactly what is was yet. "Check." she informed him.

"Oh!" he said. Then he got even more confused. "But we haven't even ended-"

Mal-bok stuck her hand out in front of her, and shook her head. "I and Yuna like you guys. So, I give you bill for three bottles of dosoju. I hope that all you drink, but if someone drink more, like _they_ usually do," she very obviously pointed to Dutch, Mickey, and Romeo. "then it still only that amount. Because I like you. Got it?"

Eddie stuttered a bit at her quick explanation, but eventually got out an _'ok'_. She nodded her head, then quickly turned her heel and went in the other direction.

Eddie leaned back, and then looked at Veronica, dumbfounded. She just chuckled, shrugging. He looked back out into space. "Yuna," he began. "I hope that whoever marries you understands your mother better than I do. If he doesn't, then he better learn quick, or else he's gonna piss her off. I'm sure."

Yuna grinned. "Well, at least it's not like last New Years'. My mom was having me run around to every table. She got her wish then; I didn't even have a chance to take one sip of that dosoju before the clock hit 12 AM, January 1st."

"I'm scared to drink that now." Mickey looked cautiously at the wine. Romeo made a weird face towards Mickey's statement.

"Your scared to drink it? It's just alcohol, Mick! You would think Mal-bok is trying to poison you, or something ..." Romeo took the first glass of dosoju, and everyone else followed.

"But it could be bad ... luck ..." Mickey ended his explanation when he saw no one was going to listen, and was the last one to grab a glass. "Fine, whatever. Don't listen to the guy who believes Mal-bok, just ignore him."

"That's what we do most of the time, Mickey. Why stop now?" Veronica started to laugh loudly at Eddie comment, and Dutch raised his glass.

"To annoying the shit out of Mickey."

Everyone clinked their glasses, reciting a few 'ehs!' on the clinks. Mickey even clinked his, albeit while pouting. Yuna saw his face, and had to physically stop herself from spitting out dosoju in laughter.

"Aw, come on Mick." She lightly pushed his head to the side. "We love ya, you're just so easy to tease."

"Really? I thought you guys were just doing it because you're assholes."

"That we are, but it's more because of what Yuna said." Dutch added.

"Haha." Mickey laughed sarcastically. Yuna tapped him, and he turned back to her.

"I could have you out in the plaza instead." She looked at with a completely serious face

" ... no thanks." Mickey murmured. Yuna grinned in triumph. She looked over to Dutch, changing the line of talk.

"So, Dutch, how's Gretch? You did give her a call, right?"

"Of course!" he exclaimed. "She'd be pissed off it I didn't. She says thing are going ok, she's still hearing the rumors too. But the people at the hospital she's at are all real sketchy; she deals with it though. They wanna keep her there, to make sure her leg is doing well, baby too."

"You think about names yet?"

His eyes started to twinkle at bit, coinciding was a small smile. "She still won't tell me the gender. Wants to wait 'til I get there. She says it's even started to kick. Told her I wish I could be there ..."

The squad was listening to Dutch's happiness with all the respect in the world. Heck, it even made us happy; we got it from each other whenever we could. You learn to find happiness anywhere, during war. It might have been over- then- but we didn't think about the world outside of what we each talked about then. It made us feel more human, even if it was different then how we were during war. We didn't know which was who we really were, but I think it was always a little bit of both.

Veronica was particularly listening to Dutch, her wine glass pressed against her cheek. "What does it feel like, knowing you're gonna be a dad?"

Dutch thought for a few moments. "It's ... I don't really know. It's different then anything, sort of. Exciting. Not like drop pod exciting, but a happier exciting, you know? Something to really look forward to. And I have no idea what to do as a father." he snorted. "I said it before, and I'll say it again; I really never thought I'd have any kids. At all."

The team nodded at this, realizing they too had never given a thought to family. I, personally, like kids. But I liked them more when I could give them back; that had always been my motto.

"Kids are ok. Tough when you're not around them much." Romeo stated. Everyone started to offer up their opinions on the matter.

"I never gave a second thought to kids." Eddie added in.

"I was always busy, and now I'm just ... well, I'm a little old!" Veronica laughed.

"Kids are ok, I guess. They listen to me." Mickey said.

"Yeah, only because you might as well be a kid. Even they can see it." Dutch guffawed.

"Hey! Is it possible that kids just like me?" Mickey even turned to Yuna for support, but she was keeping her hand over her mouth. Whether this was out of not talking, or fear of spitting out more wine, I didn't know. I knew I felt like laughing. "Sam and Sean like me a lot!"

"There's a difference between kids being your adopted twins siblings and the kids being _you're_ kids, Mick." Dutch countered. "It creates a different relationship."

Romeo coughed at the thought of Mickey having kids. "Let's just hope and pray that you don't reproduce Mick. Kids can be evil. But when their your kids, well ..."

"Oh, you are one to speak Romeo!" Veronica exclaimed. "You were doing great with the twins! You knew exactly how to talk to them!"

"Yeah, but I didn't have to deal with them all day. Just for the evening." Romeo took another sip of the dosoju.

"No children in your future then, huh?" Yuna asked straightforwardly. Romeo shrugged, turning to me, his lower lip out.

"I don't know. How about you Rena?" I widened my eyes, surprised he had asked. He just grinned in response. "I think we'd make some pretty cute kids."

"Hah!" I laughed loudly. "Cute, but they would be the worst behaved kids in the world."

"There would be a chance they would act like you though, Rena." Yuna pointed out.

"I'd be screwed then." I put bluntly. Honestly, I would be. I remembered how I'd acted as a teenager, rebellious and a carrier of a crap-mouth. Got me in a lot of shit, and it certainly didn't do well with my already messed-up family ...

"What if they turned out like Romeo?" Leia asked. She sounded innocent, but was smirking in his direction. I thought about it, only momentarily.

" ... Oh _God_," I choked on my dosoju. Romeo opened his mouth wide, but a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth; he knew how he was. "We'd still be screwed! God, we'd be screwed either way!"

Dutch roared with laughter, and Mickey clapped his hands in agreement. Eddie was leaning back, laughing almost as loud as Dutch. Yuna had finally spat out some dosoju, and was now trying to wipe it off her lip and control her laughter at the same time. Veronica was snickering loudly, the wine glass twirling in her hand.

"Haha, Rookie!" I saw Mickey point at Rookie, and I saw why it was such a comical scene. Rookie, the quiet one, was trying to hold in the laughter. But he started to laugh so hard it was silent, and he was holding his hand against his forehead, eyes closed. He could probably see my non-existent future children with Romeo in his imagination.

"Hey!" Romeo shouted to Rookie. "Keep laughing, Rookie, and it'll be two beers you owe me!"

The Rookie turned to Romeo, but a new string of laughter came from him; he couldn't even look me or Romeo in the face.

I started to laugh hysterically, and Romeo flipped his hands in the air. But he wasn't upset at all, and put his arm around my shoulders when I had control of myself.

"So I wouldn't be the best dad; you think you guys can do better?"

I patted Romeo on the shoulder, apologetically. "Hon, they probably could. Even I know that." Romeo turned to me in mock-betrayal, to which I gave him a look. He, in turn, kissed me on the mouth. It wasn't long, as Yuna quickly diverted our attention elsewhere.

"But what about you guys?" She directed this question towards Leia and the Rookie. "Haven't you thought about kids?"

Rookie's laughter slowly stopped at this question, and his smile disappeared with it. A new emotion crossed his face, as he turned to Leia. She didn't look as nervous, smiling weakly. She noticed Rookie's face, and shook him gently by the shoulder.

"Hey, I don't know why you think it's a big deal, Rook. I'm fine, you know that." She grinned like normal, causing the Rookie to relax a little. She breathed, and looked back towards Yuna. "I, um ... I don't really think about it."

Yuna's eyelids drooped in dissatisfaction at Leia's answer. It was obvious there was more behind it. Leia chuckled, but her eyes were a little downcast.

"I ... I can't." She tugged one side of her mouth up, Rookie looking for any sign of sadness. But there was nothing to point to any negativity on her shining face. Maybe a little more acceptance of that fact, on her part.

"Oh ..." Yuna paused. She looked a genuinely sorry for Leia, actually. Leia, who had just noticed the sorry expression, shook her head in disapproval to the reaction.

"No, it's alright. I never really wanted kids anyway." She didn't sound completely sincere, but Yuna took it, nevertheless. She raised her wine glass to Leia, and looked around at everyone else.

"Here's to kids; whether we have them or not, I, personally" she glanced around the table. "miss being one." That was a toast everyone clinked their glasses to.

I saw Rookie put his arm around Leia's back, holding her up gently. I saw her smile at the touch, and she almost seemed to tighten up against it. She turned to him, and rested her head on his shoulder. It was a sweet moment. She was so content, just being here.

Thinking about this, I realized my own happiness at for the New Year. I turned to Romeo, who was chatting with Dutch. I studied his face, trying to figure each feature.

He was fairly handsome, and his skin color and mine almost blended together, shining in the faint lighting. I felt myself smile, and realized that there had been more smiling done on in the past week than I could ever remember doing. It was because of the end of the war, but it was also in a funny way, because of Romeo. If it wasn't because of him, I wouldn't be here.

I put my free hand over his that was draped across my shoulder, and I felt him tighten the grip. To let me know he was paying attention.

We all went on talking like that for awhile, and when I last checked my watch it was already 10:30. An hour, I thought, and a couple people from our group would probably go out to the plaza. It was even worse than before out there, and I could even see people standing on each other's shoulders, just to make room. Everyone was faced in the same direction, to the screens. It made me want to grip onto my seat, as if someone would take it.

"Look at that soup." Romeo peered out the windows. "I'm staying in here. Hell, I would stay in here all night if I didn't think I would be able to get back to our quarters after midnight."

"There is no way I'm going out there." Veronica declared. "I love the plaza, but I don't like people being that close to me."

"'Cept me." Eddie grinned, causing Veronica to smirk.

"And what makes you so sure, Eddie?" She said this with a bite in her tone.

"Because no one can pry you two off each other." Dutch guffawed. Veronica ignored the comment, and looked at the Gunny.

"You'll see, Veronica." He pointed to the electronic clock in the corner of the room. "Come 'round midnight, you won't be able to stay away."

"Uh-huh." She took another sip of wine. "Don't be so sure of yourself, Buck." Eddie shrugged, still grinning, and the conversation went back to the plaza.

"I'm keeping inside." Leia said. Rookie nodded in agreement. Dutch simply stamped his foot on the ground to make his statement.

"Well, I wanna go out. See the people." Yuna poured herself some more dosoju, and Mickey promptly stuck out his glass. "Any of you guys feel like giving me a lift out there?"

"I'm sure Mickey wouldn't mind. Would ya, Mickey?" Eddie chuckled. He glared at Eddie, but Yuna grabbed the idea.

"Would you, Mick?" She asked innocently. "I won't do well dressed like this, especially in that mob."

Dutch elbowed Mickey's shoulder, but he ignored it. Rubbing his arm, he complied. "Sure, I don't mind."

"Of course he doesn't." I whispered to Romeo, who choked a little on his wine. Yuna grinned, and abruptly stood up from her seat.

"I'll be back in a few, I just have to go make sure my oma isn't getting pissed. You should have seen her last year ..." she sighed, shaking her head. But grinned at Mickey. "We'll go out there at 11:50, ok? Thanks Mickey."

To the chagrin of the others, she bent down from her tall stature and gave Mickey a kiss on the check. Normally, I'm sure she nor Mickey would've thought anything of it, but the table got quiet as she walked away. Mickey simply kept his face turned away from us, bracing himself for the barrage of talking that was to come.

With Yuna out of earshot, Rookie let out a low wolf-whistle, Leia's giggle along with it. Mickey look almost betrayed, but didn't say anything.

"Well," Dutch leaned forward. "now we know two things. One,"

"Yuna has the hots for ya, Mick." Eddie started.

"And vice versa." Veronica added.

"And two," Dutch said.

"Rookie definitely owes me more than one beer." Romeo finished.

"You people don't listen do you?" Mickey scoffed. "I've just known her a long time. Jesus Christ ..."

"I would think you would jump at the chance of a girl. You haven't been with one in awhile." Romeo pointed out.

"Shut up, Romeo."

We finished teasing Mickey once Yuna came back, and she didn't bother asking why Mick had the sour face; he was happier when she came back. I chuckled at the thought of the two of them being together; two mouths that wouldn't shut up.

Time continued to pass by fast, and eventually the clock hit 11:30. Leia had been playing more music until that time, and everyone in the restaurant started to move around. Yuna and her mother, with Dutch's help, started to clear the middle section of tables for people to crowd around the bar and big screen. It was a spacious restaurant, so it wasn't terribly squeezed together. The group stuck near a window, where Mickey had gone out with Yuna after clearing the area.

"Well look at that." Eddie pointed to their position. Mickey and Yuna were desperately trying to make it through the crowd, and got to a point where they couldn't really move. "I wonder if he won't give her a lift."

"Haha!" Dutch chuckled. "Too late, Gunny. Take a closer look."

We all peered out the window, and saw an interesting exchange. Yuna was talking to Mickey about something, and they both smiled. He then proceeded to hoist her up over himself, and she put both or her legs on his shoulders, with him supporting her by holding her around her waist. She straddled herself on his shoulders, and her thighs were close to Mick's face. Though this was done in the innocence of getting a better view, it looked comically sensual to us.

"Look's like Mickey's gonna get lucky tonight." Dutch roared. Rookie chortled at the scene, then walked over to the piano, where Leia was. She had finished another song, and she was standing up to meet him this time; she took his hand in hers, staring at him for a few moments. Looked like Mickey wasn't the only one.

"I hope it's not just him." Romeo murmured. I grinned, and looked at him, being met by a smile.

"Well, it's been a pretty good night for ya, Romeo. Maybe it'll continue into the morning." I was teasing him, and it was obvious.

"I got a feeling it will."

I gave him a look. "Take some of Veronica's advice, Romeo. Don't be so sure of yourself."

He turned my body so I was looking at the bar, he himself tittering. "Really? Because looks like Veronica's not taking that dose of her own medicine."

She was dancing with Eddie, slowly, in the area where Mal-bok had had cleared; there were other people there, too. Her arms were wrapped around his neck, and Eddie looked like he was enjoying himself. Very much so, in fact.

Dutch had moved away, now talking with a few other ODSTS at the bar; I sensed more drinking coming his way. So me and Romeo were fairly alone, standing in front of the big glass window that we had just been peering out a few moments ago. He wrapped his own arms around my waist, which I put my hands over.

"Would you like to dance sweetheart?" He asked.

"Huh." I snorted. "Baby, the way you're moving, I thought we already where."

He let out a low chuckle, and we went to the small space of floor to dance as well. I noticed that Eddie and Veronica's heads were touching now, and their pace was slower. I reminded myself to remember that picture; Veronica barely ever let her guard down in such a way.

Rookie and Leia were being themselves; cute. Rookie was sitting on top of one table that had been moved to the side, watching everyone else, and shooting the occasional glance out the window. His feet were comfortably propped up on a chair. Leia was sitting next to him with her head on his shoulder. They were holding hands, her leg pressed against his.

There was still music since there was someone else that had taken over the piano after Leia. Romeo hung his arms loosely around my lower waist, baiting me into moving them up. But I simply smiled, and put my arms around his neck. He seemed surprised at this, but he didn't change his position.

"So my chances are good?" he questioned. I pretended to think about it for a moment, before showing my teeth in a grin.

"I would say they've never been better. It New Years', after all."

"Nice way to start it off."

After about 25 minutes, people really started to get rowdy. It was a 11:55, and everyone was now crowded around the screen over the bar area. Dutch had propped himself up on the actual bar, as if he wasn't tall enough. Rookie and Leia had brought over a few chairs, and were now standing on those. Eddie and Veronica were standing next to us, and me and Romeo were standing back near the window, hoping to get an alright view.

Even though this happened every year, I could feel the excitement in the air. Even Eddie was jittering a little, moving from side to side. Veronica was now tightly pressed against him, and I was in a similar position in direction to Romeo. Leia held onto Rookie's waist tightly, and a quick glance out the window showed me that Yuna was holding onto Mickey while he moved around. 4 minutes passed, and the countdown had started.

"60 ..." The crowd outside and in had began to count, the excitement mounting with each raising number. Rookie pulled Leia closer and closer to him. Veronica was starting to jump a little now too, with Eddie watching intently.

"Hey, you wanna know something?" Romeo asked. I was paying half of my attention to him, and the other half to the countdown.

"What?" I asked, not looking at him.

"10 ..." The crowd counted slowly, and Romeo pulled my hair.

"What?" I asked again, turning to him. I could feel confusion in my face.

And he surprised me. Again. He smiled, genuinely.

"5 ..." I heard early screams come from outside. Romeo leaned in close to me.

"I love you."

"1 ... YEAH!" Dutch hollered as far as his voice would go, and the crowd went crazy.

"YEAH, WHOO!" I felt the vibrations from the crowd outside yell. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Eddie twist around to kiss Veronica, with all the passion in the world. Dutch had started a riot inside, with people jumping all over, causing the sounds of what I'm pretty sure were a few glasses breaking. The Rookie and Leia had stopped to look at each other momentarily, then slowly did the same and Eddie and Veronica. Yuna would later tell me that she nearly fell of Mickey, with how much he was jumping with the crowd, but that she wouldn't of noticed. She was too busy laughing herself.

All of these small things, small pieces of positivity and joy at the New Year, where all overshadowed by that one thing Romeo had said to me. I looked at him, my lips open but my vocal chords halted.

He loved me.

He still had that genuine smile on his face, one I wouldn't see for awhile after that day. But he had it. "I love you, Rena Portman." He said it again, not because he didn't get a response the first time, but because he just felt like saying it.

I just looked at him, and mouth dried. I felt my eyes water, but I didn't cry. I didn't really want to. I was just so surprised by him; he always managed to do that to me. I couldn't believe that Romeo, the ladies' man, loved someone. He loved me. And my vocal chords began to work again.

"I love you. I love you too, Kojo Agu." I heard the words come out of my mouth, and they coincided with our next actions, which was the same as everyone else. A New Years' kiss.

Needless to say, when we got back to his quarters, he got what he wanted. I could feel that he was happy too. That he meant what he said. And I was so happy, that he loved me back. And I hadn't known if I had loved him the past month or so on that carrier. But I knew then. On January 1st, 2553.

**January 1st, 2553**

When I woke up, I felt dreamy. I almost worried that it was still December 31st, 2552, and that New Years' hadn't come yet. But the electronic calendar in the corner of Romeo's room said otherwise, and I giggled, giddy with new found love.

"Someone's happy this morning." I twisted to see Romeo propped up on his shoulder, still lying next to me. I showed some teeth in my smile, letting a soft chuckle escape.

"How long have you been watching me?" I questioned.

"About 5 minutes." He yawned, sliding down to my level. "You look funny when you sleep."

I smirked. "Thanks. Way to make a girl feel comfortable."

"You should be thanking me. It's a good thing." He put his hands to my face, kissing me, and I did the same. We pulled away after awhile, and I stole a glance at the clock.

"Huh." I muttered. "We slept in. It's 9:30."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Gunny and the Captain are still in, too. I didn't hear them outside." He smirked. "Dutch was drunk as hell last night. Came around 1:30 AM. Mickey and Yuna stayed out in the tubeways for a little bit, but he came back around the same time as Dutch."

"They must be tired."

"Hah, not more than us. What a night ..." I softly punched him in the ribs, and he retracted his hand in mock hurt. "Ow! You hit hard, sweetheart."

I raised my nose up to him. "You sure didn't mind my nails hurting you last night."

He paused, then nodded in agreement. "No, I really didn't."

"Mhmm." I gave him a knowing look. "And don't call me sweetheart."

"Wouldn't dream of doing it again." he said sarcastically. He lifted himself from the bed, and bent over to grab some clothes from a drawer.

I put my head on his shoulder, my mouth next to his ear. "Why in the world do you need clothes?" I asked.

He chuckled, still getting them out of the drawer. "Because someone has gotta wake everyone else up. Dutch will want some coffee anyway, with the hangover I bet his gonna have."

A question suddenly struck my mind. "Hey, what about Rookie and Leia? They left the party, right?"

"Heh. Yeah, Rookie went straight to Leia's place. They're probably asleep right now too, and I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that they won't wake up any different than how we just did."

I laughed, and moved away from Romeo, allowing him to getting up and put on some clothes.

"Hey Rena," Romeo moved some stuff around, looking for his toothbrush. "turn on that TV set over there, would ya? It's set up to LCNS."

I snapped my neck to where he pointed. My mouth dropped as I saw that there was an actual TV box in the corner, balanced on a stack of books.

"How the hell did you bring a TV box onto this carrier?" My voice was a little higher pitched than usually, but I was shocked. Nothing usually got past UNSC carrier security. And they didn't like you having TV boxes, among other things.

"I have my ways." I turned to see him smirk, at least as best he could while brushing his teeth. My mouth was still opened, and I looked back at the TV. I closed it once I realized how I looked, and shook my head.

"You know you're not supposed to have that in your room, Romeo."

He gave me a look of disbelief. "Rena," he asked after spitting out toothpaste. "since when have I ever given a damn about rules?"

I giggled at his comment, and leaned from the bed to the TV. Pressing the power button, it immediately came on to a news channel. The rumors were still circulating of course, but we had to watch the shit to get to whatever else was on the news.

"Yeah, and Dutch was worried about Gretch because of this." Romeo almost seemed to read my thoughts, as he flipped off the news woman.

"Well, no one knew, Romeo. No one could've guessed she'd be pregnant. He even told the Gunny before Mombasa that she was gonna be doing paperwork and shit."

"Yeah, but that was to cover up that weekend he went to see her. Before we knew the Gunny, you know?"

"Yeah." I murmured. "I know."

I would've been content to stay there all morning, thinking about my lover, his squad, our family. To just sit there and enjoy the warmth of his bed, and enjoy his company. Just talk about things.

But something made the morning go bad. It made the entire New Year go completely, completely, bad. It made me wish I had never reached over to turn on Romeo's TV. Or that I had taken Mal-bok's advice, and not drank any dosoju. If I had known what would happen that morning ... fuck, I never would've taken a sip of that stuff.

" ... and this is Lord Hood with us now, telling us a report on the Covenant forces on Earth."

I had been putting on my bra when the woman said this. I suddenly realized what the woman had said when Romeo nearly choked on tap water.

"What did she say?" He was as dumbfounded as I was, and slowly walked over to sit down next to me. I didn't answer. I just stared at the screen. She was talking to Lord Hood about it. I only caught the last part of their conversation.

"But Lord Hood, wasn't the war declared officially over last week?" The woman asked.

"Well, yes, but hostilites have not officially ended, and we didn't haven't had much of a chance to really search certain places on Earth-"

"But sir," she interrupted. "didn't the UNSC say that there were no more Covenant on Earth? Again, that the war was over? If there are still Covenant, then there is still a war, isn't there?"

Lord Hood was being cornered good by this woman, and was obviously getting jittery. "Well, yes-"

"So was it bad info, the war being over? Or is this the beginning of another war?"

"Look, I don't think you're reasonably-"

"But sir, if there are Covenant there, and Covenant that will go to Earth, then they could also come to Luna. Which would be either another war, or a Second Battle of Earth. Isn't that right?"

"Well, if it was Earth and Luna-"

"If it was earth and Luna, then that would mean a Battle of the Sol System entirely. Luna, Mars. Wouldn't it?"

Hood was done talking, and sighed abruptly. It was completely quiet on the news channel, and in the room. My and Romeo's eyes were both on the TV. After a couple moments of what looked almost like consideration- like he was choosing to tell her the complete truth or not- he sighed again, and his face drooped in depression.

"Yes, ma'am. It could mean that exactly. A Battle of the Sol System."

"Then part of the war?"

"Officially, no. But ... I'm sure people might look at it that way."

They continued talking, but I didn't hear it. My vocal chords didn't work today either, but for a completely different reason than yesterday. So much was trying to be put together in my mine, but it didn't make sense. I almost felt like crying in frustration.

"Oh my god." I whispered. I felt myself tremble a little, but it stopped. The more worrying part was the crackle in my voice. It was like everything that had made everyone so happy the past week, and the night before, was completely cut off from my mind. That was a time when I wanted to cry. But I couldn't. I was shell-shocked. He hadn't said much, but enough. His tone. I had learned so much about tone, in music, in voice. And now it was telling me that our break was over. Our happiness had ceased.

The only thing that held me back to the week, and the night before, and the happiness, was one small thing. It didn't erase the collapsing feeling, but showed me that someone was there with me.

It was me and Romeo, at the same time, moderately clasping each others' hands, and holding on. Like it was something to keep us together, as if we might be ripped apart. And we held on tight.


	9. Changes

Because of the In Amber Clad

Chapter 9

By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

The night before had made me suddenly remember why New Years' had always been my favorite holiday.

I had had one of the best nights of my life. Spending the evening at Mal-bok's had been a great idea, and the the taste of the dosoju made it all the more wonderful. We had just sat around, talking, never having an odd silence or pause; it was so natural. The way it should be.

But the feeling was a little different the morning I woke up. It was there, in the air, ever since Dutch's nightmare. We had been happy to dress formally, and just be like everyone else for awhile. But we were also a little uncomfortable being normal. Rena had stated so herself some point in the evening; she would've felt more at ease in her ODST armor.

In the morning, I woke up to the empty space. It was Luna, and didn't have any real weather when compared to Earth. But even though it didn't rain on Luna, I had a feeling that somewhere in the galaxy, it was doing so.

I had had a weird dream the night before. I could only remember small parts of it, but I never woke up; always the heavy sleeper. But this dream was odd.

It was from New Jerusalem, the battle. I dreamed of Yevgenny, his story, the missiles; just small sections from memory. Then being told I was the only survivor. That was one point in my life where I don't think I had ever felt more alone; phrases had shot through my head, words like 'lone wolf', 'alone', or worse, 'PTSD'.

I didn't have PTSD. I knew that I didn't. They thought I should, and my silence didn't help much. It didn't affect me that way, though; maybe at first, I let it seep into memory as a horrible experience. But it wasn't. I hadn't let that happen. It had taught me a lot, and shown me what was worth fighting for. Even though I had already known.

I told my superiors that I just wanted to be transferred to a different squad, so they agreed. They needed all the able Marines they could get, and the good thing was that no one even so much as questioned me about Yevgenny. No one except me and him knew of the other ODSTS betrayal. I wasn't angry with them as he had been, knowing that I couldn't do anything about it. I kept my promise though; I had done all I could against the Covenant, fulfilling Gage's last wish. The only thing even remotely negative from the experience, was that one inch of fear I had felt. Feeling my heart beat faster than my feet, while I ran for my life. There were only two other times in my life when I had been so scared. They had been worse, but somehow, Yevgenny's death seemed to overpower them.

But I let my feelings go. I had learned to do so a long time before any of this started; being an ODST, meeting Leia. I had learned early.

As to New Jerusalem, I would have a different start after that, even though no ODST really has a new start; to us, our lives just go in one long flow, from the day we were born to the day we die.

On January 1st, 2553, my eyes opened to darkness in the usually bright room. It didn't take long for my vision to adjust, as I rubbed sleep out of my eyelids. Next to me, Leia was sleeping peacefully, long brown hair in a mess over her back, her head on a pillow. I turned on my side, looking at her face, and slid my hand over top her spine. I moved down slowly, her eyes opening as I did so and her back curving while she turned to me. The shining brown eyes were noticeable even in the bad light. Her hair shimmered while she moved, clinging to her skin. Maybe it was just always the way I looked at her. But whatever it was, it was enchanting. And to me, Leia was the most beautiful thing to look at.

She gave me a small smile, teeth showing. Her own hand was touching my chest, and we didn't move from that position for a little bit. "Hey." She murmured. I smiled back at her, my own 'hey'. She looked around the room, her smile going away. "Actually, hey is right." she said, noticing the darkness. "Why is it so ... dark?"

I shrugged, and she turned over, holding onto my hand. "Come on, let's see what's going on."

She got out of bed, pulling on some clothes. I sat up, throwing my legs over the side of the bed. I took a brief look at the dog tags around my neck, and experienced a sense of deja vu. I couldn't remember why of course. Not at that moment.

As I got up I noticed that the dress Leia had worn the night was still laying on the floor. She had smiled as she passed by it, making me smile. Yeah, it had been one good New Years'.

I put on some extra clothes I kept at her place, and walked through the hallway and into the living room. It felt like night, being even darker in there. Leia went over by the armchair and turned on the TV, it's light blaring through the living room. I walked over, planning to ask what was going on, until I heard what was on the TV. LCNS was on.

" ... and we heard earlier from Lord Hood that the Human-Covenant War might not be as over as was thought. UNSC intel says that while the war was declared over about a two weeks ago, they have withdrawn this statement. Military news has been scattered in a chaotic array, some saying the war is still on and even going as far to say the Covenant are coming back to Earth, Luna, and other places in the galaxy. We go now to a news report ..."

My eyes were glued partially to the screen, and partially to Leia. At first I didn't understand exactly what had happened. But when I heard Lord Hood's name mentioned, I knew it wasn't just a rumor. Something was wrong.

I gave my full attention to Leia, who was just sitting in one of the chairs, her hands over top her mouth and nose. She got the same weird sort of glaze to her eyes that she had when she looked at the stars. But this time it was different, almost disturbing, to see that look on her face.

"Leia?" My voice still scratched a bit. I guess it always would. But I hoped that maybe, my voice would bring her out of this zone she was in, with her eyes on the blaring screen. It was quiet for a moment. Just quiet.

She responded though. "I don't know ..." She turned to me, her face the picture of confusion. "Rookie, what's going on? The war was over. It was done. This ... this ..." She let out a breath in frustration. "This _lady_ on the TV is trying to tell everyone it's not over. Is there something else going on, or? ..." She stared at me, waiting for a reply.

I stared back at her, knowing I didn't have the answer. In my head, I was trying to connect something in the last few days to what was happening now. What could possibly have brought the war back on? I didn't know what to tell her. But I knew where I could get an answer.

I put my hand in front of me, for her to stay here, and motioned towards the door. Her confusion disappeared, and she got up.

"I'll come." she stated, and started towards the room, to change. I had already gotten on some clothes, so I nodded in return, tugging at my dog chains; then I shook my head as I pointed to her. I would have to go on the carrier, but she wouldn't be able to come. Understanding, she nodded back. She couldn't just stay here.

Thinking about days when I would leave and she would stay were always hard for her. Stay and be worried about me, knowing she was safe and I wasn't. She had never found it fair, but she knew better than most. She also knew me. And Rookie I may be, I was a good ODST. And she never once gave a second thought to that part of my life.

"Hey." She held my face with both hands now, temporarily stopping before continuing to the bedroom. "I'll go as far as Mal-bok's, alright? I'll watch anything on her TV and send you a Chatter message if I see something important."

My mouth was slightly open, but it closed quickly. She had a look of concern, letting go of my face and walking to her room.

Sighing, I leaned back against the wall. She would've gone whether I had wanted her to or not. A quick look out the window told me that it was still dark outside. The other apartments still show any signs of people, which was odd in general, putting aside the fact that it was New Years'. My mind was still trying to piece together bits of what had happened so far with multiple things racing through my mind. I looked down at my pants, feeling comfortable in the familiar clothing. Only military issue, besides the formal wear that everyone had bought from a various stores in Crisium City.

For a moment, I turned to a mirror that was on the wall, and simply stared at my reflection. I rarely took off my helmet on missions, but now that it had been off for a few days I could finally recognize myself. I shaved for New Years', my five o'clock shadow not being very noticeable. Still there though.

I had the physique of most ODSTS; muscular and tall. My face didn't have any scars, and it looked young. Which I was; enlisting at the age of eighteen, I would be turning twenty-four this year. Even though Mickey was a year younger, he seemed older in a few ways; despite his rank, he had a lot of experience, more than me. The only thing I had seen that he hadn't was a planet being glassed; thankfully, he didn't have to witness I complete glassing of Earth.

But then he would act like Mickey, and I would be the more mature person. It was always like that, age aside. None us were really _old_; the Gunny was only 42. Number seemed big, and his attitude was old and hardened. But when he was happy he could be just like us, though he would never admit it. Besides, nowadays, 42 was still pretty young. Maybe in the 21st century is would've been middle aged, but no matter what the Captain said, she and the Gunny had plenty of time. They were considered young adults, and we were the teenagers.

I paused at one thought. The Gunny was a tough person. We were all tough, ODST to the core; 'badass' stamped right on our gear. But for the past few days, we had been completely open. Our attitude had hidden itself inside of us for the most part, even though it makes us who we are. I stared at myself in wonder, wonder as to if I could be this; an ODST. No matter how much more I like having a guitar in my hand, and no matter how much I liked a break from the constant sounds of gunfire, I also _liked_ my job. I _liked_ being an ODST. Did that mean I couldn't be Rookie to my squad and Leia? To this life with her?

I suddenly felt much older than I was.

"Rook, come on." Leia had brushed past me quickly, a messenger bag in tow. She took my free hand. "We have to get going. Yuna called me and said the plaza it terror. If you want to get to that carrier, you better go now. Now we know why it's so dark; everyone is gone."

I took her hand, and walked with her. But I wouldn't forget my face in the mirror.

We hurried away from Leia's apartment block, and the moment we turned the corner in a tube, we realized what Yuna was talking about. The tubeways had gone to hell.

Everywhere there were people. Cramming themselves through, trying to get ahead of everyone else. I tightened my grip on Leia's hand as I recognized some Marines shouting over top the crowd. She noticed and stayed close, the swinging braid that she had put in her hair never leaving my sight.

It must have taken us about half an hour to push and shove our way through to the plaza, and when we got there I felt my mouth drop. I couldn't see the screens. There were people on others shoulders, and sometimes even two people on one person. My ears picked up on numerous screams and shouts of irritation. There were a few little kids that were trying to get to someone shouting for them. Me and Leia quickly moved aside to let them through, and I saw the expression on their faces. They were horrified.

Everyone was trying to get a good view of the screens, and in all the commotion people were insulting and shoving each other to move. I felt someone push past us roughly, and not wanting to be involved in what I'm sure would turn into a brawl, Leia moved quickly through the crowd towards Mal-bok's restaurant. She kept a hold of my hand all the way through.

We made it to the door, and I noticed people standing on the balcony. There was a small fence-like barrier for the outdoor area below the it that prevented people from cramming in too much. Beside the balcony was a trellis, which had contained decorative flowers the night before. There were no flowers now, and people were actually trying to climb it to get a view of the mega-screens. I could hear what sounded like Yuna's father shouting for people to get down. There was still a huge crowd around the restaurant though, and the only reason we got to the door was because Yuna was outside waiting for us

"Come on!" She shoved past everyone, people cursing at the action, and pulled Leia in as I let go of her hand. Leia turned around to mouth a 'be safe', then was blocked out of my sight by people passing by. I could hear Yuna's loud voice, yelling at people to move out of the way.

Knowing she was now there, safe with Yuna and Mal-bok, I made my way through the crowd. I was going against the current, muttering 'excuse me' and 'sorry' more than I ever had in my life. I eventually made it to the UNSC port. I looked around for the people that ran we there most of the time, but there was no one taking up space there. I realized they must all be on the carrier. The blaster doors were open, so I ran through them and took the appropriate directions to our quarters.

I swung open the door to our small living area, and there was half my squad. Romeo was sitting next to Dutch on the sitting portion of the quarters, while Rena paced back and forth between the door to Romeo's room and Mickey's. I honestly couldn't tell if she looked more nervous or more pissed off.

"Rookie." Romeo stated, him and Dutch looking up. Dutch looked like he was severely hungover, which he probably was, with a cup of coffee next to him. Ignoring the strong smell of espresso steaming from Dutch's coffee, I quickly walked in front of the two of them, raising my hands in question.

"We have no fucking clue." Romeo replied. I could her bitterness in his voice. "Lord Hood got up on TV earlier, talking about war. Damn war was over, or at least we thought. According to _Lord Hood_," Romeo sneered out the name. "we're still gonna be fighting. Then people start talking shit on the news ..."

That explained why Dutch was looking worse than hungover. He had a mixture of perplexity and anger in his expression. Mickey was no where to be found.

"They always talk shit on the news." Rena snarled. I guess she was more so pissed off. "But now it's being backed up. Navy idiots ..." She kept mumbling on like that to herself a few moments. Romeo just shook his head, which made me wonder. Why wasn't she sitting with him? I would've thought they would be linked at the hip, since last night ...

I heard the door to Mickey's room swing open, and everyone looked his way. The bags under his eyes were noticeable, and he was back in Marine issue clothing. Marching out, he glanced at me, nodded his head in my direction, and lifted up what seemed to be a see-through erase board.

"Ok," He was panting hard. "this is the video Chatter I kept in my room, but ... it's not working. New batteries." He turned my way, pointing towards the door.

"The Gunny and Captain haven't come out yet ..." He leaned back against the wall, sliding down to a sitting position. " ... and ... I just spent half an hour going through my room looking for this." He swung the Chatter up in the air, closing his eyes.

Rena had stopped pacing and was now looking at Mickey with a little bit of disgust. "Mickey," she sneered. "you wouldn't be so tired if you didn't keep so much junk in there."

"Maybe," he glared at Rena. "_you_ could pay for a video Chatter ... Rena ... so that I don't search my room ... and you don't piss me off!" What I'm sure would've been a double response from both Rena and Romeo was cut off by a loud noise.

Everyone jumped a little at the banging sound that was created by the Gunny's door being kicked open; Dutch shook and groaned, while slowly raising his hand to his forehead. Out of it walked the Captain, red-faced and generally upset. The Gunny followed behind looking tired, annoyed, and angry. I immediately braced myself for a loud argument. Separately they could be dealt with. But when they were both arguing, everyone wanted to stay away.

The Captain headed for the door out of the quarters with the Gunny not far behind. It didn't take a genius to guess what they were fighting about; she was Navy. And ONI Intel Recon Navy, at that.

"Looks like we're not the only ones that had a bad morning." Mickey murmured, having recovered from his brief argument with Rena. "And I still don't know what's going on ..."

"None of us do, Mick." The Gunny had sneered back at Mickey's comment, drawing attention from the Captain. "Since Ms. ONI Intel Officer over here won't tell me a damned thing-"

"Jesus, Eddie, shut up!" The Captain had turned around, stopping the Gunny in his tracks, now about 5 inches away from his face. "I already told you I don't know. Is it that hard for you to believe me?"

"It is when your superior starts agreeing with media on the TV." Dutch threw in, glaring at her.

"Be quiet, Dutch!" Her voice was raised higher than ever. "Don't pin this on me. I am not the representative for any of this! I could know less about-"

She was interrupted by a sudden eruption of yelling and running outside our quarters. We stood there for a few moments, not really knowing what it was. Then a voice came over the ship's intercom system.

"_Attention. Attention all UNSC personnel. This is your ship's AI, Erin. All UNSC personnel, regardless of branch or rank, are to report to the spare audo-room located near the cafeteria. You will be organized according to affiliation. Briefing on further situational status will commence there."_

When she stopped talking, everyone was on their feet at once. The Captain and the Gunny were out the door faster than anyone, coming to an abrupt stop outside. Though they were still glaring at each other, Gunny quietly stepped aside, letting the Captain go in front of the rest of the team.

I was out next. Romeo got up, stood in front of Dutch, and shrugged. Exasperated, Dutch sighed and followed out after us. Rena had ran in front of them, awkwardly stopping to look at Romeo. They shared a look that I couldn't quite place, and I felt my eyebrows come together, looking towards Dutch for a possible explanation. He wasn't paying attention though. Rena broke eye contact after a couple seconds and ran over to her team. Mickey, still clutching the Chatter, followed.

Rena's squad was led by Master Sergeant Nathaniel Mao; he had as much experience as our Gunny. He was 45, had a full head of black hair, and a stern face. His attitude when on duty was just as strict. Not unnecessarily cruel; he just cared about regulation. But he cared about his squad, too. That was what I liked about him. That one thing I had found he shared with the Gunny.

"Corporal Portman, this way." he called over. Her pace sped up, and I could hear her talking.

"Hey Top, do you know what's going on? ..." I didn't hear an answer to her question.

It was like one long flow of UNSC. Everyone was walking to the audo-room, just like the AI had requested. Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army. The Navy were turning away from the looks and stares of others, especially Marines. I realized that half of them weren't ONI, or even commissioned officers. I felt sorry for them; here they were, just like us, not knowing what was happening, and _they_ were the ones being blamed.

My thoughts were cut short by Mickey pushing me forward. "Keep moving, Rookie." he said. I looked around, realizing I had walked a little slower while looking at the horde, and went back to walking at my regular pace.

The audo-room was called so because it looked like a huge auditorium. This carrier was a Phoenix-class Colony ship, and had been refitted and reused for the UNSC. There weren't many ships like this, especially ones this big. That was for sure.

Going back to size, the room was so big because it was where perspective colonists would wait before landing on a planet or moon. I didn't know what had been stored in it before, but it was just a huge empty space now, used for military meetings and briefings. There was a sort of podium for the commander of the ship, and whoever was in charge of each respective branch to stand with them. When we entered the room they were there. Waiting for us.

Our squad was part of the 7th Shock Troops Battalion, and the entire battalion itself was on _The Event_; while my squad had come off the ONI facility, having been there during the Battle of Voi and Installation 00, the rest of the battalion had boarded from the _Shadow of Intent_. They had participated in the last battles of the war, unlike us- something Mickey, Dutch, and Buck had been quite bitter about- and were evacuated before the Flood had been completely destroyed. The ship had been headed for Earth, and _The Event_ offered more space than the crowded Separatist ship. So they took the entire battalion, planning on meeting up with the rest of the Expeditionary Force later.

The 2nd Shock Troops Battalion, who Rena's squad was a part of, was there as well; they boarded on to _The Event_ from another ship a little before our squad, having participated in the Battle of Sector Six. News said that their battalion had been pretty decimated, which was why they hadn't fought in the last two battles either. Rena wasn't severely injured, but Nathaniel had been healing from a broken rib and puncture wound acquired from a Brute. Though having been treated by Rena immediately on the battlefield- she was no corpsman, but she was pretty well-versed when it came to medical procedures- he and Romeo had been more than happy to share that similarity in bitter conversation.

Actually, _The Event_ was supposed to have come back to Luna for supplies, then turn back towards Earth. Knowing travel, it only took about a three days to go from Earth to Luna. So while the ship carried all these people, most UNSC craft headed back to help with Earth's defenses. Since the war had ended the carrier had obviously stayed on Luna out of want so far, not need. Until today.

Commanding the 7th Shock Troops Battalion was Lieutenant Colonel Ben Hunting and Sergeant Major Porter Kidman; the Marines were unusually quiet. The 2nd Shock Troops Battalion was being temporarily commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Mochi and Sergeant Major Vincent Blanken. Most of them looked to tired to do anything more than glare. There were only ODSTS here, but they made at least 2,500 men and women on board.

Next to us were regular Army, with their Lieutenant Colonel Ethan Marquez. Another Sergeant Major, Rochelle Larson, was helping to quell a few Army guys as well. 6th and 4th Army Ground Battalions, both from the 120th Army Ground Brigade; the 4th Ground Battalion executive staff and commanding officers had died during a the ground battle in Voi, so they were also under the temporary command of Marquez and Larson. Another 3,000 men and women.

Marines and Army tolerated each other, holding respect for one another since they both knew the horror of ground battle. Even though they didn't work in conjunction much, it was fairly cooperative on both sides when they did.

In the middle, there was the Navy; not the nicest place for them at the moment. The two-star Rear Admiral commanding this ship was in front of all the branches, leaving the a one-star Admiral to hold higher rank over the Navy folks; Rear Admiral Lucius Miller. The Navy was giving the least amount of trouble. They also looked the most nervous.

Dare had gone over to stand with the ONI Intel officers; more than a few Marines watched as she walked from one end of the room to another. The Gunny reached out a bit, almost wanting her to stay, knowing she would draw attention. But she held her head high as she walked across the room. ONI stood off in a corner, by themselves. As I noticed, the intelligence officers made up less than half the Navy on board, part of ONI Recon 111. Then again, there weren't many Recon to begin with.

There were about 200 Navy men and women. The Captain said they were originally assigned to a fleet somewhere on Earth, but I couldn't remember which she had mentioned.

That just left Air Force- which made the most people on this carrier- lead by Major General Marisol Vasquez. They weren't rowdy like the Army, or glaring like the ODSTS. They didn't look happy though, many of them showing signs of impatience. They just wanted to know what was going to happen.

I wasn't familiar with Air Force battle structure, but according to Mickey they were part of the Second Air Force on Earth. From what I could see, they made up at least 3,000 people.

Everyone filed in, and orders were shouted from each area of the room to be quiet. The two-star Rear Admiral stood up in front of all of us, scanning the room; Admiral Lucinda Terry. After making sure a fair amount of the people traveling on board the carrier were actually _here_- there were still about 1,000 people missing- she began her speech.

"Alright. Listen up and listen good." she started. There were no murmurs in the crowd; we wanted to know what was going on.

"I'm assuming all of you have seen the news, and if you haven't let me fill you in." She had authority in her voice; she wouldn't be cut off, at least not without a response back. "Fleet Admiral Lord Hood let something be known from the UNSC today. He told the media that the war wasn't over. Bluntly speaking, he screwed up.

I felt my eyes widen at her words. Most people weren't so forward with their opinions, especially when it was the Fleet Admiral of the Navy. It was like asking for a demotion. But I guess she didn't care at this point; looking around But she continued on. "The war has ended, don't be mistaken. But there are hostilities. Hostilities we should be concerned about."

"Hostilities my ass." Romeo mumbled. "Just like Navy, being sketchy."

"Romeo, shut it." Gunny ordered. The Admiral had thankfully not noticed this small disturbance.

"I can imagine the way you see it, the war isn't over. Believe that if you will., but it _is_ officially done with." Before she could continue, shouts and yells were heard from the Army section.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Someone yelled out. It was coming from the group of Army. "It is war! Everything about this is like war! You know more about this, or else Lord Hood wouldn't have wanted it covered up!"

"Check your mouth, Sergeant!" the Admiral yelled. This caused a louder disturbance, and now numerous Army were yelling.

"How about you ask those ONI spooks over there what they hell they know, huh?" the Sergeant yelled. "Hey you! Yeah you, blondie!" He was pointing to the Captain. "You little spook, what they hell is going on?" When she didn't answered, he spat out even louder. "See? Bitch can't even tell us what we need to know- "

I heard the Gunny rustle beside me, preparing to move forward. I spun around and stopped him, pushing hard against him; shaking my head. I could feel the worry emanating from both of us; him for her safety and pride. As for me, I just didn't want him to be confined to his quarters for the rest of this event, knowing we would need his help later. I kept shaking my head, pointing at the Admiral, and jabbing my finger back to him. Thankfully, Gunny got the message.

He didn't struggle, as he had been moving forward slowly. He merely continued to glare at the Army man, who was now being called out by his superior.

"Sergeant, stand down and shut up before I put my boot up your ass! Got it?" The man looked about ready to shout something else to the Sergeant Major that had called him out, but a couple people restrained him, hauling him down to floor level. Whisperings from a few ODSTS behind us told me that they were itching to let loose the same reaction as the Army man. They kept their mouths shut, though. He eventually resurfaced, eyes narrowed.

"Ma'am." He obeyed. The Admiral looked on with a stern eye, then turned away, continuing her talk.

"Now, if we won't have any more _disturbances_, I will go on. First, a reminder from my crew; military personnel are NOT to bring non-UNSC personnel on board, as it is against regulations." Hearing this made me shift my weight from foot to foot. That meant Leia couldn't come. "Remember that well. Second, I have been informed that this carrier will be leaving Luna three days from now, counting today, and arrive at a UNSC Navy-controlled base in Nairobi, Kenya."

"What?" Mickey hissed again. "What the hell? We were supposed to stay here for another week." I held my finger to my mouth, knowing that everyone had to keep quiet. He looked annoyed with me too, but cooperated.

I quickly figured the date in my mind; it was Monday, which meant we would leave on Thursday. It would take about three days to get back to Earth; while the Covenant could safely use Slipspace in a galaxy, the UNSC couldn't. So we would get there the next Monday; January 8th. I noticed that this all seemed very hurried for a trip back. Briefly remembering the Captain saying carriers didn't stay in one- leisurely, at least- for long, I supposed that the UNSC was making up for lost time.

"There," the Admiral continued. "you will be briefed on what is happening, when, and where. I have orders for none of you to be informed now, unless I specifically say so. We don't need more information getting out about this. Last," She said this slightly louder to get our attention, but she faced Dare and her friends. Raising an eyebrow, she said "you, Intelligence officers, will report to blaster door 09 for a special briefing with the UNSC _Point of No Return_ at 1900 hours." I realized that it was now about 10 AM in the morning; that made the amount of people already in the plaza seem much more shocking. "Anyone who misses this briefing and knows about it will be _reprimanded_." She placed emphasis on the last word, then turned to face everyone.

"If you expected me to tell you the war is still going on, I won't. But I understand why you see it that way. And to be honest ..." For once, and only once, her stern eyes faltered. "I, personally, agree. The war must be back on." She quickly recovered her normal face, and started to step back. "You are all dismissed and until further notice, free to leave and enter the carrier as you wish. Any word of misbehavior and plain _idiocy_ on or off this carrier will be reported. Again, you are dismissed."

She stepped away, walking through a door and out of the audo-room. It was so quiet that if you could hear something significant in space, we would've. Then it all broke apart.

"This is just bullshit." Dutch sneered. A few similar phrases were heard shouted across the room; his was one of the only ones not to be noticed. "Complete bullshit. I don't mind that Army guy; what are they playing at?"

"Come on." The Gunny moved forward with the other Marines, ignoring Dutch's comment. "Let's get outta here."

"We have to go to Mal-bok's." Mickey informed him. Gunny gave him a look, causing Mickey to explain.

"Dutch needs to talk with Gretchen, and I found my old video Chatter, but it needs battery power. Yuna has a charger, and I already called her about it. Plus, Leia is there," Mickey cocked his head in my direction. "and the crowds are starting to get rowdy. You might wanna go before something happens."

The Gunny still looked unsure. The Captain had been walking near us, and when we saw her, she was assaulted with an variety of expressions, the Gunny was the first one to talk.

"You don't know anything, huh?" Gunny mumbled. "What's the briefing about? Something else that's _classified_?"

"Maybe!" The Captain's anger was back. "But obviously, I can't know anything if I'm just now about to be briefed on this."

"Or they could just be telling you something different than you already know." Dutch said, still upset himself. The Captain, sick of arguing, let out a groan of frustration.

"Believe what you want, alright?" She turned back to the Gunny. "Don't believe me. Because I'm the spook. The blonde _bitch_ that doesn't give a damn about your team."

"That's not what I meant!" The Gunny looked hurt at this one comment she made.

"But it's what you want to say." The Captain had gotten closer to his face, out of irritation. "Isn't it?"

Buck obviously didn't like her being close to him at that moment. "What I want is to know what's going on! And even if you don't know something, I can tell how this will go." The Gunny lowered his voice. "You won't be able to tell us anyway. Because it's your job."

The Captain tried to continue arguing, but the Gunny raised a hand.

"Look," He was talking in a near whisper now. "you told me not to get on you about your job. And I won't. But them?" He pointed to the ODSTS. "Veronica, they have jobs, too. And they need to know what the hell they're in for."

Her face relaxed a little, her voice coming down as well. "I know that, Eddie. You think I don't care about them? I've been with them for 3 months now; assholes some of them may be ..." Sighing, she rolled her eyes.

"You knew how this would go, Eddie. You know what ONI is like." She breathed out. Gunny raised any eyebrow, and her own eyes narrowed. "But you're right, they have a job. And they do a good job. I'll do everything I can to help. But you know that if I screw up, it means my job. Would you risk losing yours?"

She looked at him, waiting for a response. And as mad as I thought he would be, he looked weird. Like he was debating what to do. But slowly, carefully, he reached out for her hand, speaking. " ... For my men? Yes. For you, even more. But ... I understand. Just help us, alright?"

She hesitated, but didn't any longer than a moment; she quickly grabbed his hand, as if it would suddenly disappear. I saw his thumb pass over the ring on her finger, and she could feel it. She complied, for now. But the argument had been anything but resolved.

I walked over to them, tapping the Gunny on his shoulder. He turned to me, and I pointed to the other two squads. A couple people of Nathaniel's team had been watching, even though they didn't seem to happy that the Gunny was now calm; Dutch was watching, too. His expression was replaced by something different though. His eyebrows haunched together, animosity for the Captain gone from his features. There was a feeling of confliction.

He wanted to believe her. He just didn't know if he should.

I pointed towards Mickey, reminding Captain and the Gunny of where we had to go. Normally, the Captain would've turned red at the scene; now, she just looked tired. Squeezing the Gunny's hand in hers, they walked over to our squad. Mickey gave a sigh, as he had been sitting kneeling on the floor during the entire ordeal because of his fatigue, and started leading the way out. I heard Nathaniel go over to Gunny, murmuring that his squad was coming along; they were going to keep the other ODSTS already at Okinawa in check, if they could.

As this was all happening, I was thinking about something different; I _felt_ different. I felt older and so young at the same time. I could imagine Leia's face when she heard the news, and how she would feel. It would be like Dutch's, or Gretchen's. It would be so much worse than ever before. I finally remembered the reason for the morning's deja vu. It wasn't something that helped though; in fact, it probably made it worse.

Last time I woke up, in Leia's bed, with her next to me, swinging my legs over her bed, and taken a look at my dog tags, was 7- now 8- months ago.

The night before I was deployed back as an ODST.


	10. Confusion

Because of the In Amber Clad

Chapter 10

By: The New Girl Of Lycanthropy

On the walk back, we didn't talk much. 'We' included me, the Gunny, the Captain, an unusually quiet Romeo, Mickey, and Dutch. Master Sergeant Mao and Rena have also tagged along. It felt surreal walking out of the carrier, as if our entire world had just changed. It shouldn't have; we had gone this route before. Missions thought completed, we needed to go back. A war we thought was over, actually just teased us. The setting had certainly changed.

Dutch was still simmering over- well, everything. The rest of us were mostly shell-shocked, a pun that didn't seem so funny anymore. Our seemingly endless good New Year had turned, and so had we. But first, we had to go to see if Yuna and Leia had heard. And if to them, it had done the same.

Once we got out into the tubeways, that was it for whatever was left of Dutch's patience. Practically barreling his way through, Dutch got us through in quicker time than I had with Leia. Then again, he was going towards his girl; once we were at Mal-bok's he would Chatter Gretchen. A girl. That was the reason he shoved strangers out of the way, nearly tripping teenagers up as the ran by. I could understand though; I was second behind him.

I was usually calm, and I tried my best to be myself and keep that calm. But I could feel the anger, new and raw, rising to the surface. I don't know if I even knew what I was angry at, just that I was. Lies had been told. We had only been out of our skin for a week practically, and for what? So that something could take it all away from us again.

After almost bum rushing our way through the streets, the group of us were suddenly stopped in front of Mal-bok's restaurant.

"Hoo leee shit …" Murmured the Gunny.

A throng of people were grappling at each other like animals. It wasn't just in front of the restaurant that had stopped us; they were _everywhere_.

It was more than a mob at this point. The entire city had gone to hell. People in the squares were shouting, arguing, fighting at some points even, only stopping when the news on the big screens came back on. Commercials came as often as possible, but there were so many screens and the news was live. The newscasters didn't know what to do with themselves, the commercials being an attempt by the stations to buy time, I suppose. Viewers in Okinawa plaza knew it, too. I felt a little less angry, knowing we weren't the only ones upset by the misinformation.

However, we still had to get inside the restaurant. And each of us were obviously military, from physique and plain old common knowledge. Many other Marines were out here as well, some mixed with Army and Air Force, some not. Navy seemed to have decided that it would be better to stay on the carrier, I supposed. As made as I was, I did not believe that they should have been blamed any more or less. Navy had enlisted, too. At this point, only the officers of any branch seemed to know anything.

After me and him shared a look, Dutch just shrugged his shoulders and continued to shove people off. I stood aside and motioned for the rest of the group to come through; I was tall enough that I could protect the tail of our little line if need be. I observed Rena slipping her hand into Romeo's as they walked on; he glanced back, and I was thinking that he might shrug her off, from the way they had been acting today. Also, I could see that she was a bit guarded about the action. In her eyes. But Romeo surprised us both. He glanced back, nodded his head, and pulled her with him.

My anger disappeared for a while after that. We had changed; we were ODSTS again. But we had remained the same. Romeo still loved Rena.

I allowed myself a small smile, then took account of the area around me. Mao was the last one, and I followed quickly after him.

Me and him almost stopped, as we had lost track of the others. Then, I felt a sharp jab in the middle of my spine and nearly elbowed whatever was behind me. Thankfully, Yuna darted out in front of me before I could get her.

"Sorry, but you have to come this way, _fast_." She pushed me and Mao forward roughly and quickly, over to a large, round booth in the corner of the restaurant. It was an eery feeling, having been here just the night before, with a hopeful feeling and jazzy music. Now, things just seemed to go wrong. That feeling of negativity just kept popping up, in different ideas. What else did I expect? The war followed us like a plague.

"Sit!" Yuna commanded. The rest of the group looked just as confused; Yuna always explained the cause _after_ the actions. The booth were a deep mahogany color, in bit of a contrast with the rest of the restaurant. The circle was tight enough that passing customers wouldn't be able to bump into us, and we could talk amongst ourselves.

There was only, really, a small opening where the guests could slide into the booth; once in, it was like a small nook, cozy but not claustrophobic. The waiter would regularly stand in between the two ends of the booth where people would slide in, so as to take the orders. Yuna now pulled up a chair in this area to sit. I guess she didn't mind people brushing her chair aside with each run by.

The restaurant was alright compared to what was outside. No less would have been expected of Mal-bok, who I knew would not stand to have her place in complete chaos. I noticed, also, that many people were out on the balcony; a dangerous place to stand in my opinion. Too many were crowded against the railings, and even more were grappling at the sides of the restaurant.

The rest of the ODSTS were looking too, and we knew to well what was happening. Those were not longer civilized humans out there, in the streets and the plaza, and maybe even in the city for that matter. They had turned into a horde of raw animals, waiting for something to set them off into a riot.

"So what's going down, guys?" Yuna cut straight to the chase, no beating around the bush. You could always count on her to get to the point.

"It's a long story …" the Captain replied, twitching at a shattering outside. Things were getting even worse, and I instinctively slid my hand into Leia's. Not look was exchange, but I could feel her grip tighten.

The fact that the Captain was getting twitchy made the Gunny twitchy. And like a domino effect, it made the rest of us feel the same. Sergeant Mao quickly took charge.

"Yuna, to make a long story short, the rumours are true." Yuna's eyes widened at the news Mao so succinctly gave. "The war is still on. We're all being shipped back to Earth, but we aren't sure what for- well, except maybe …" The Sergeant motioned towards Dare, who wasn't paying attention. She seemed a bit nauseous.

"Veronica?" I heard Buck murmur. "You alright?"

It was odd to see the Captain so nervous over this. From the look on her face, it was like she was trying to deal with something inside; what it could be, I wasn't sure.

" …. No." She managed out. She still looked like she might vomit. A pallor overcame her complexion. I heard Yuna shuffle her chair, and rise to nearly sprint across the room and into the bar. She came back just as fast with a two glasses, one of wine and the other of water. She balanced them both just as any experience server would.

"Here." The Captain ignored the wine glass momentarily, but by the Gunny's encouragement, took a small sip from it. It was as if the red wine had seeped right into her pores; some color came back to her face, and she began to drink more bit by bit.

I nudged Leia, who turned to me. I was surprised by her expression; it mirrored my own angry persona. I think she was a bit surprised as well, and we moved closer to one another to keep our thoughts along the same line. It was always how we had communicated.

At some point Yuna had also laid down a large, thin stick of battery. From what I concluded it had to be a battery for the long-distance Chatter; normally our phones would have worked fine. But Mickey had already guess that any long distance calls that were not video would be overrode by other forms of communication in the area, such as the huge telescreens.

"Thanks." Mickey murmured. Each time he worked with small gadgets like this, even with something as small as a battery, you could see the concentration. He enjoyed his work, and it seems that the vice versa was also true.

"Alright. Here." Dutch caught the Chatter just as Mickey slid it across the table. "You have a little while, Dutch. That Chatter has been a bit fixed up" Mickey had a momentarily smug look on his face. "to at least get through any media frequencies. I can't guarantee the clearest connection to Earth, but it should be enough for you and Gretch to talk a bit."

Dutch looked more hopeful than I wished he was. I could feel my brows press together in worry; it would not be the most loving conversation they ever had.

Dutch dialed in the number of Gretchen's own video Chatter. From what I heard, they sent many video messages over the course of her recovery. We were all waiting in anticipation now, to see if the call went through.

For what seemed almost long enough before Dutch put the Chatter back down, three beeps were emitted from the Chatter. "Yes" Dutch whispered.

After a couple moments of waiting, a somewhat bad- static filling the screen- signal came in. I saw a rustle of blonde hair. A smiled a bit for one second. Gretchen had ignored regulation these passed few months.

"Hello?" Her voice was smoother than her attitude; I heard the Gunny mention that Gretchen was as tough as a cookie, and shot like the skilled marksman she was. I personally had never met her, but I'm sure I would see a lot of her this next couple of months.

"Gretchen?"

When he said her name, it was like Dutch entered a whole other world. His voice became softer. He was speaking to his wife.

"Dutch!" She gasped. Immediately the screen from the other end of the Chatter call was shifted. Gretchen must have punched a clear up button, because the static somewhat disappeared. Both of them touched the screen at once.

"Hey Gretch." Dutch crooned. "How are ya, baby? Well, both of you," he grinned sadly. "I should be saying."

I noticed once of Gretchen's hands move to rest near her ribcage. Near her womb. "We're doing just fine."

They spent a few moments just looking at each other. Romeo said they chatted all the time; this must be what it was like, each time. Me and Leia looked at each other; we had sent letters to each other as much as we could.

Mickey had not purchased a video Chatter, nor had Gretchen; they were more expensive than they were worth, even with good long-distance. Gretchen had, basically, gotten it as a result of taking part in the dangerous surgery that had given her back her leg. Mickey had other means.

So to be more private- since UNSC didn't check mail so much- me and Leia had written many a letter. We doubted we were the only ones that did so. She had even sent me musical sheets in the letters, to remind me what was waiting back home. It had gotten me through more soul-searching and long talks with myself than anything else.

Except maybe her.

Dutch and Gretchen's moments were over now, though. They each removed their hands from the screen; Gretchen shifted so that she sat up straighter. I could tell that she was in a hospital bed. Dutch returned to his somewhat normal self as well, though to me, he wasn't Dutch without Gretchen.

"Have you heard the news?" he asked vaguely. Gretchen shook her head, bright blonde hair shaking back and forth.

"Everything has gone to hell here." she almost snarled it out, as if the hell had done some personal injury to her. I'm sure that something had irritated her, because Dutch seemed to think so as well.

"Did something happen?" he checked. But Gretchen simply shook heard head again. We could hear chatter in the background. "Well …" he stated.

"Dutch." Gretchen snapped him back. "What is going on?"

He didn't look like he necessarily wanted to tell her. After so much good news, with a baby and seeing each other, he only had another bomb to deliver. His face contorted, something Gretchen recognized even over the screen. This only made her more worried. Her face softened, seeing his hurt.

The Gunny moved the Chatter screen his way, taking control. "Hey Gretch. Its Buck. The news is …" Gunny glanced at Dutch, sighing. "The war isn't over, Gretch. The Covenant, apparently are still moving around somewhere on Earth."

Gretchen's reaction was not similar to any of ours.

At first, she was just reprocessing what the Gunny had said. But then her eyebrows went in and out, her face becoming fuller and redder.

"Shit … Shit!" she exclaimed, hissing through her teeth. Dutch had snapped back to reality.

"Gretch." he tried to talk to her. But Gretchen would not be controlled.

"I knew it!" With the free hand that was not on her stomach, she slammed it against her own Chatter. The screen from her end visibly shook, and I could hear a monitor increase in it's beeping. I assumed that it was her blood pressure rising, and perceived that someone would interrupt their conversation if the monitor set off some sort of alarm.

I quickly reached across the table to point at the monitor in the background out to Dutch. It took him two seconds to understand what I was trying to tell him.

"Gretch, be quiet for a minute, before someone comes in!" Dutch did not yell, but it had an assertive tone. Gretchen gave him a look that let him know she was decided to either argue, or cool down; she bit her lip, let out a groan, and leaned back.

"Okay, Dutch." She had become eerily nonchalant, flinging her hand in the air. "What now?"

"There is one piece of good news, thats what." Dutch wasn't smiling at this supposedly good news.

"Oh yeah?" Gretchens eyes were set in disbelief. "And what is that?"

"We're being shipped back out. To Nairobi."

He knew that would surprise her, because she did a double take. Then she shifted the screen back up. "Nairobi? You're coming here?"

"Yeah baby. I'll be with you guys soon." Dutch's voice had slipped back into soft speech.

Gretchen leaned back slowly, having propped the Chatter up on something. "Well." she breathed. Her breathing was a slow intake and out; her stomach rose and fell with it, which was how I knew. "I'll be damned."

I did know that neither of them had seen each other in awhile. A long while. I turned to Leia. I noticed that her stare was fixed on the Chatter; she was observing Gretchen carefully. Leia always looked hard at people she was beginning to like.

But my ears picked up on something before the others did. I slipped out of Leia's grasp to jump up and look above the seat, out the window. I felt Leia's look up at me, wondering what was happening.

I had heard some sort of yelling. It was not the call of a name, or simple anger. Something was going on outside. Then I saw the fistfights really start.

I sat back down, and pondered what to do for a moment. It would be a bad idea to go outside, but it would also be bad for us to stay here. Yuna and Mal-bok would be able to control the bar; her father was here today as well. We need to be somewhere anyways, and the fact that we were Marines would not endear us to the crowds. We would have to get out of here now.

I reached over and tapped the Gunny, and jerked my thumb out towards the windows. I felt someone slide out of the seat, to see Rena walking with a purpose towards the balcony. I tried to reach out to her, but she was gone in a few seconds.

"Shit, Rena," Sergeant Mao scooted out of the seat to go after her. "you choose the worst times."

Romeo, surprisingly, did not go with her. I glanced at him, then back at her. He noticed.

"She can take care of herself." he simply stated. His face was set staring at the table. For some reason he would not stop wringing his hands.

Calm Romeo was nervous.

I thumped his back, and when he turned to me I simply nodded. We were ODSTS again. That's all I needed to do.

He chuckled, closing his eyes. "Shit Rookie. You adapt to change fast, huh?"

There was another, larger crash outside. Now Leia stood up, her braid flying with speed. Her body remained still while her eyes darted back and forth across the plaza outside. Then she turned to the Gunny.

"We should go." she said calmly. But I saw her hands shake a bit. I took one of them in my own, and she stopped immediately.

Gretchen and Dutch, who I had heard, had been murmuring goodbyes just as the Gunny turned to them.

"Dutch!" Gretchen grabbed at the screen, as if she had one last change to touch him. I wondered if it was always like that. "Be safe sweetheart!"

"You too." Dutch whispered. "I love you."

"Dutch, I love yo-"

Something flew through the glass over my and Leia's heads. Instead of ducking, I wrapped my free elbow around her head and pulled her down with me. Leia didn't scream at all, knowing I would keep her safe.

Just as Gretchen was finishing her sentence, whatever had thrown through the glass hit the screen. Dutch yelled out and slammed against the seat. Romeo and Mickey cursed loudly, and Gunny reached towards his waist instinctively for his gun. The Captain was also jolted, but place her hands over the Gunny's waist. She didn't think it was a good idea to pull out a gun in an already heated environment.

I agreed with her. Until I saw what had flown through the air.

It had hit the Chatter's screen, cracking it right in the center. It was somewhat round, digging deep into the device.

It was a bullet.


End file.
